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THOMAS WHITTAKER, Publisher, 

2 and 3 Bible House, New York. 



QUESTIONS 



THAT TROUBLE 



Beginners in Religion, 



/ 

REV. GEORGE W. SHINN, 



Newton, Mass. 




THOMAS WHITTAKER. 

2 and 3 Bible House. 
1882. 



Thb Library 

OB C©»CRBSB 1 
WASHINGTON I 



Copyright, 1882, 

BY 

THOMAS WHITTAKER, 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Preface 5 

how do we know that there is a god ? ii 

What reasons are there for believing that 
the Sacred Scriptures contain a Revelation 

from God ? , 25 

How do we know that Christ is a divine 

Saviour ? 38 

What Advantages are there in being a Chris- 
tian? o 55 

Can we expect Supernatural Help in leading 

Christian lives ? 63 

Why should we belong to the Church? 73 

What advantage has the Episcopal Church ?. . 82 
how can we carry religion into our daily 

Lives? 94 

What Reasons are there for believing that 



THERE IS ANOTHER LlFE BEYOND THE PRESENT 7 105 



PREFACE. 



By beginners in religion are here meant persons, 
young and old, who are seriously inquiring what 
those things are which they must believe and do, 
and why they should believe and do them. 

Young people are likely to reach a point in 
their experience when they say: "You tell us 
that we must believe in God, that we must cling 
to Christ as our Saviour, that we must attend 
public worship and do various other duties; but 
we meet people who do not believe as you tell us 
we must, and who are living in neglect of these 
duties. What good reasons are there that we 
should accept the doctrines which some reject, 
and why should we do the duties which so many 
ignore ?" 

Sometimes parents and teachers are startled 
when they are thus called upon to defend the 
views they have taught, and, it may be, are per- 
plexed to know what to reply. 

The course taken is not always judicious, for the 
young inquirer is sometimes censured for doubt- 
ing, or is appealed to not to desert the faith of 
his fathers. 



6 



PREFACE. 



The fact is he may have no desire to desert that 
faith, nor is he willingly a doubter, but his mind 
is growing and he needs a reason for what he has 
hitherto taken simply upon the authority of others. 

Possibly he has come across something in his 
reading which has disturbed him — some denial of 
an important point or some explanation with 
which he is not familiar. 

He may have heard opposing views stated 
where he supposed that but one view could possi- 
bly be held ; and these views too are expressed 
by people who are beginning in various ways to 
have influence over him. 

The case of such a young person is worthy of 
most careful consideration and demands the most 
judicious treatment. 

If his questions are not answered he may con- 
clude that they cannot be answered, and he may 
thus be driven into the very condition of doubt 
and denial which he should be helped over. 

If his questions are not well answered he sees 
the weakness of the replies given, and is led to 
regard religion as settled upon a very insecure 
foundation. 

Patience, tact, and wisdom are needed by the 
parent or teacher, when the young inquirer reaches 
his questioning stage that he may be convinced 
that the religion of Christ is indeed from God, 
and that it claims his acceptance. 



PREFACE, 



7 



But there are older people who may be called be- 
ginners in religion. They have gone on year after 
year interested in other things, absorbed in busi- 
ness, laden with many cares, or perhaps have been 
eager in pursuit of riches and pleasures of this life, 
but there comes a period when they awake to the 
importance of religion. Perhaps they meet with 
some affliction, the home is broken up, the family 
is scattered, some loved ones are called away from 
earth. The unseen world becomes more real to 
them as they stand in the presence of their sor- 
row, and they would know the why and the 
wherefore of the doctrines and duties which are 
pressed upon their attention. 

Probably some persons in adult years are led 
to give attention to religion by the simple fact 
that they find the world unsatisfactory. They 
are disappointed, and begin to ask, " Is there 
not something better than this?" but when 
the different points of the Christian faith are 
brought before them, and its duties are made 
known, they are filled with questionings, and 
would see that the new path is a good one and 
safe before they can walk in it. 

For one reason and another men are arrested 
at almost any stage of their life by the claims of 
Christ's religion. 

Afflictions, disappointments, remorse for sin, 
and many other causes, lead them to wish to 



8 



PREFACE. 



know why Christians find comfort in their religion, 
and why they can look forward hopefully into the 
future. 

It is not for a moment believed that this little 
book will help every one through his questionings, 
and completely satisfy him ; but it is offered as a 
help to the young beginner, when he would know 
why we believe and do as we do, and to the 
older beginner when, for any reason, he would 
examine the claims of Christ's religion upon him. 
The topics treated follow the order of the articles 
of the Christian Faith as contained in the Apostles' 
Creed, so that with the questions appended to 
each section the book may serve as a text-book 
for use in schools in connection with the other 
Manuals in this series already published. 
Grace Church, Newton, Mass., 
February, 1882. 



I. 



How do we Know that there is a God? 

There are two principal ways of knowing a fact. 
We may perceive it by our senses, or we may be- 
come so convinced by many other considerations 
that we accept it. 

When then we are asked how it is that we know 
there is a God, we cannot say that we have per- 
ceived Him by our senses, but we reply there are 
many considerations which when taken together 
make us just as sure that God exists as if we were 
looking upon Him with our eyes, or listening with 
our ears to His voice. 

NOW WHAT ARE THESE CONSIDERATIONS? 

i st. The first one is this: Belief in the exist- 
ence of a God is universal. 

Cicero long ago said, " There is no people so 
wild and savage as not to have believed in a God, 
even if they have been unacquainted with his 
nature. We know now nearly all, if not all, the 
races and nations that dwell on the face of the 
earth, and we find that however much they differ 
in intelligence, there is in all of them a belief in 
some Higher Power. 



I 2 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



" However degraded some races may be, they 
yet retain some ideas of Deity." 

But objectors have said that the thought of 
Deity is a remnant of superstition and barbarism, 
and that when a race emerges from its low condi- 
tion to a higher one it loses its belief in God. 
This view, however, is not borne out by the facts, 
for you find that the most cultivated nations of 
antiquity kept up the rites of religion, built tem- 
ples for the gods, and maintained worship of the 
Higher Powers; and, however far any nation on 
the face of the earth to-day has gone in civiliza- 
tion, its recognition of Deity has been retained. 

It is very true that w r ith advancing intelligence 
nations have changed their \iews of Deity, and 
have adopted higher and purer doctrines instead 
of the crude notions once held, but this only con- 
firms the position here laid down that belief in 
Deity is universal. 

There have been individuals in different ages 
w r ho have denied God's existence, and have 
sought to prove the falsity of the particular views 
held by those about them, or have in some cases 
tried to show that any belief in Deity is errone- 
ous, but they have never succeeded in having 
their notions adopted by any considerable num- 
ber of men. 

It has been impossible to devise any system of 
Atheism that would stand from age to age. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



13 



In our day a new form of Atheism begins to 
assert itself. It is known as Agnosticism. 

Its main point is that we cannot know of a cer- 
tainty anything about God and spirit and futur- 
ity, and therefore we are not to trouble ourselves 
with such thoughts, but simply to be concerned 
with the things that we are " sure of." Another 
class of Atheists, called sometimes the Material- 
ists, labor to explain away everything that be- 
longs to the spiritual world, and to make man 
merely a compound of matter, a collection of 
atoms acted upon by different forces. According 
to them the soul is only another name for a part 
of the body, the brain, the molecules of which 
are moved by external forces and produce the 
results which we call thought and will. 

These men say, " We have swept the heavens 
with our telescope and we cannot see God, we 
have penetrated the depths of earth and we find 
him not; all we can see is matter and force." 

The error at the basis of Agnosticism and Ma- 
terialism is in assuming that we can know nothing 
except through the senses, and it refutes itself so 
soon as it speaks of " force," for who shall define 
what " force" is ? And indeed upon the very 
ground of the Materialist there arise questions 
quite as perplexing as those he labors to set aside, 
for how can he account for the origin of matter 
and force ? Out of what original impetus did 



14 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



matter arise ? What is the primal cause for the 
existence of matter ? What is force ? 

Is it not far easier to accept the universal belief 
that there is a God than to accept the contradic- 
tory suggestions of the few who deny God's exist- 
ence ? 

When we try to account for this widespread 
belief in the existence of God, there is brought to 
view the fact that the human mind has certain in- 
tuitive conceptions, and this is one of them. 

By intuition we mean the mind's recognition of 
the truth of things the moment they are presented, 
and among these intuitive conceptions are time, 
space, substance, right, wrong, and cause. So 
soon as the thought of God is brought before the 
mind it is found that the mind grasps it. More 
than this, we are obliged to think of God, for the 
questionings that arise within us lead us on step 
by step, past the visible and the finite on towards 
a Great First Cause. 

2d. A second reason for believing that there 
is a God is the evidences of design in the world 
about us. 

" How do I know that it was a camel, and not 
a man, that passed my tent last night ?" asked an 
Arab ; and he answered thus, " Because I saw 
the foot-prints of the camel in the sand." 

The evidences of design we see in the world indi- 
cate the work of an Almighty and All Wise Being. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



IS 



The harmony of the works of creation is man- 
ifestly the result of arrangement and contrivance 
and predetermination, and of a Contriver who must 
be absolutely without limit as to His resources 
and the wisdom to apply them to the ends he 
designs. 

The evidences of contriving skill are found in 
everything we examine, whether we study the 
mechanism of the human hand, or sweep the sky 
and watch the motions of a planet. 

It is observed in minute things as well as in 
great, so that in no direction can we turn without 
beholding such an adaptation of means to ends 
that we must infer wisdom and power back of 
them. 

Men have sometimes said that it was chance and 
not contrivance that governed these matters, that 
things came to be as they are simply by chance, 
just as one might throw a handful of letters of an 
alphabet on a table, and they would come to- 
gether by chance to form a page of a book. 

The very suggestion of such a thing shows its 
absurdity. But let us admit for argument's sake 
that a man might have his handful of letters of an 
alphabet, and that when he threw them on the 
table, they might group themselves to form the 
page of a book. That might be done once, let us 
admit for the argument's sake, but when we are 
told that every time he threw out the letters, they 



1 6 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

grouped themselves into the words of a book, we 
see how beyond belief the suggestion of chance is 
as explaining the orderly work that ever goes on 
in the natural world. If it were chance why do 
not the apple trees bear peach blossoms some 
years, why do not the rivers run up hill, and the 
birds sometimes swim under the waters of the sea ? 

But, says the objector, " I do not mean that it 
continues by chance, only that it began so, and 
has become fixed." Fixed ; that means according 
to a law. When did the law begin ? At what 
stage ? Why not in the beginning as well as at 
any other point ? And if a law, who impressed 
that law ? 

It involves endless absurdities to explain all of 
these wonderful adaptations of means to ends by 
saying that they came by chance. 

Napoleon is reported as having said, " I look 
at this universe, so great and vast, composed of so 
many parts, and so magnificent ; and I say to 
myself that it cannot be the production of chance, 
but must be the work of some unknown Being 
who is almighty, and who excels men in the same 
degree as the universe does your finest works of 
art." 

It has been claimed by some in recent times, 
that a very serious blow has been given to this 
argument from design by the new theory of Evolu- 
tion or Development. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



17 



This theory simply stated claims that forms of 
being are evolved one from another, the higher 
being developed from the lower, and that this 
evolution can be traced back and back to the 
primordial germs. 

The most familiar shape in which this theory 
comes to us is with reference to our own species. 
Man, it is said, is not a separate creation, but is a 
development out of the lower forms of animal life, 
the links going on back to where you cannot tell 
the distinction between animal and vegetable. 

This view is of course only a theory. It is as 
yet without such proof as to make it even proba- 
ble ; but suppose it were proven that the theory of 
evolution were true, would it destroy our argument 
from design ? Would we have to say that this, 
theory had rendered our argument valueless ? 

Not at all, for whether beings were developed 
link by link from germs, the higher forms rising 
out of the lower by slow degrees, or whether there 
were new creative processes at different stages — it 
is all the same so far as this point is concerned, for 
if the germ theory be true, then in the germ were its 
future possibilities, and as they were attained step 
by step they proved the wisdom and foresight and 
skill of Him who made the germ. 

3. A third reason for believing that there is a 
God is the existence of conscience within men, by 
which they have a sense of accountability. 



l8 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

There is nothing we feel more certain about 
than of the existence of conscience. We know 
that it approves right things and that it condemns 
wrong things. We may be mistaken as to whether 
a particular thing be right or wrong, but that does 
not alter the fact that man has this faculty within 
him, and it is a powerful faculty. It is independent 
of our wills. We do not command and direct it, 
but it commands us. It corrects us. It punishes 
us. But where does it get its authority ? We call 
it a faculty within us, but we did not create it. 
We can, it is true, educate it, but we cannot make 
a conscience. It is already in us, and speaks to 
us upon moral questions — whether we want to 
hear it or not, and with authority too. Whence 
this authority ? Why should a man's conscience 
say to him, u You ought to do this," or " You ought 
not to do this," or " You did very wrong when 
you did so and so, and you are responsible for it"? 
Whence this authority ? 

There is no way of accounting for it unless you 
suppose the existence of a Supreme Lawgiver, an 
ultimate authority Who has given conscience its 
province and its power. 

The fact that there is this voice in us points to 
a Being who has implanted it, an Arbiter upon all 
moral questions, and to Whom men are responsi- 
ble. 

Cicero said, " The moral law was not devised 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



19 



by men, but is an eternal law. Its ultimate basis 
is God who commands and forbids. And thus 
law is as old as the mind of God himself. Hence 
the law upon which all obligation is founded is 
truly and pre-eminently the mind of the Supreme 
Divinity." 

Tertullian described conscience as "a mind 
naturally conscious of God." Yes, of Him as de- 
creeing what is right, and of holding men responsi- 
ble for what they do. 

It is sometimes said that conscience never gives 
us any intimation of the existence of Deity, but 
that it is simply the wisdom that men have accu- 
mulated concerning the injurious effects of evil- 
doing, and the benefits arising from well-doing; 
that, in other words, conscience simply records the 
sage conclusions of men as to what is expedient. 

But this view cannot be correct, for the existence 
of conscience is seen in very early life, before there 
is any reasoning or study on the part of the child ; 
and conscience is found in men so remote from 
the opportunity of gaining the knowledge of othei 
men's experiences that it appears to be an inde- 
pendent experience of their own. 

There is no possibility of explaining away the 
existence of this moral faculty. It is not a product 
of education, it is not the resultant of men's ex- 
periences as to what is best for them ; but it is a 
faculty which has been implanted within us, and 



20 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



its very existence, to say nothing of its operations, 
points to the existence of Deity to Whom men are 
accountable. 

But the arguments given above are only a small 
part of the number that may be adduced to prove 
the existence of Deity. 

Others will be considered in connection with 
other topics as we go on. 

Surely sufficient has been brought before the 
attention of the reader to show him that to dis- 
believe in the existence of a Deity requires one to 
be indifferent to the force of evidence, or ready to 
accept objections. 

Usually men who affect to disbelieve are gov- 
erned by one of three reasons : ist. They may think 
it an evidence of culture to get away from old beliefs. 
They forget, however, that because a belief is old 
it is not necessarily antiquated. If it is true it 
will stand. This belief in God will stand. It is 
rooted in the very nature of man. Man must 
cease to be man before he can really disbelieve 
in a God. Do not think then that here is an old 
superstition which advancing culture will cast 
away. If it were a mere superstition it would 
have been left behind long ago, but because it is 
a truth it will accompany all of man's progress. 

2d. They may try to disbelieve in God because the 
thought of Deity interferes with their sinful pur- 
poses. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION, 



21 



A man who contemplates doing evil finds himself 
checked by the thought of responsibility to God 
and may wish there were no God, but all his wish- 
ing will not sweep Deity out of the universe. A 
man may blind himself and then declare that the 
sun has ceased to shine, but other men say, " The 
sun is shining, but you are blind.'' 

It will be found that in the majority of cases no 
one wants to deny God unless there is the allure- 
ment of an evil life which makes the thought of 
Deity a present inconvenience, and threatens to 
make it a torture. 

3d. They may flippantly deny without ever having 
taken the trouble to examine the evidences. 

Here is one of the peculiar temptations of young 
men, to pronounce opinions upon very insufficient 
evidence ; to say a thing is not so without having 
gone to the foundation principles; and to fall in 
with any current of opinion that seems brave and 
manly because it claims to be independent. 

It would seem very absurd if one who knew 
nothing of music as a science were to maintain, in 
the presence of a musician, that certain combina- 
tions of musical tones did not belong to such and 
such a chord. 

The musician would smile at his ignorance. 

A chemist who heard a young man pronounce 
certain amalgamations impossible would refer him 
to the books and to experiments, and would de- 



22 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



cline further controversy until the objector was 
better instructed in the fundamental principles of 
chemistry. 

And so, however painful it may be to hear 
people, who have never seriously examined the 
arguments that prove God's existence, deny that 
there is a God, we can only say to them that when 
they have given more study to the matter they 
may be less ready to deny 4 what others believe to 
be one of the intuitions of their own nature, to be 
testified to by the evidences of design in the world, 
and believed so universally. 

After all there is no such thing as absolute dis- 
belief. Men may want to disbelieve, and may try 
to disbelieve. They may shock others by utter- 
ing their infidelity, but there come periods when 
they show by their actions, if not by words, that 
they cannot get rid of the thought of God. 

Some who have been prominent as deniers of 
Deity have finally confessed their errors, or have 
exhibited such terror at the thought of dying and 
passing into His nearer presence that their previous 
expressions have been negatived by their last ac- 
tions. 

It is not a question about believing or not be- 
lieving in a God, but whether we will so believe that 
it may be a comfort and help and joy to us — or a 
terror. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



23 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What are the two principal ways of knowing a fact ? 

2. Can we know God by our senses ? 

3. Is any other evidence as reliable as that of the 
senses ? 

4. What did Cicero say as to the universality of the belief 
in God ? 

5. Is this belief only a remnant of superstition ? 

6. Have nations ever changed their views of Deity ? 

7. Can you give illustrations from History of these 
changes ? 

8. Has Atheism any system that can stand from age to 
age ? 

9. What is meant by Agnosticism ? 

10. What is Materialism ? 

11. What are meant by intuitive conceptions? 

12. Does the human mind intuitively accept the idea of 
a God? 

13. What is the force of the argument from design ? 

14. Show the error of attributing the origin of the world 
to chance. 

15. What is meant by Evolution ? 

16. Is the Development theory contrary to the idea of 
God? 

17. What is meant by Conscience? 

18. What argument is drawn from the testimony of Con- 
science ? 

19. What is Cicero's statement concerning the moral 
law? 

20. Is Conscience simply the result of education ? 



24 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



21. How is unbelief wrongly cited as an evidence of 
culture ? 

22. How does a love of sin suggest denial of God's exist- 
ence ? 

23. Is it fair to deny that there is a God without giving 
attention to the evidences of His existence ? 

24. Is there after all absolute unbelief ? 

25. Have some unbelievers finally confessed their error ? 

26. What choice have we in believing ? 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



25 



II. 

What Reasons are there for thinking that 
the Sacred Scriptures contain a Revela- 
tion from God to us? 

There is a collection of books usually known 
as the Sacred Scriptures or the Holy Bible. 

Copies of them are found in nearly every home 
in Christian lands, and extracts from them are 
read in the churches upon occasions of public 
worship. 

These books are referred to as of divine au- 
thority, and the claim is made that men were in- 
spired by the Deity to write them. 

When we examine the books we find here and 
there statements on their own pages that the au- 
thors were inspired. 

Let us go over a portion of their history, and 
then examine this claim that is made that they 
really contain a Divine Revelation. 

In the first place we find that there are thirty- 
nine books in what is called the Old Testament, 
and twenty-seven in the New Testament, making 
sixty-six in all. Some of them are lengthy histories 
while others are very brief letters. The oldest of 
them were written at least over 3300 years ago, 
and the latest about 1800 years ago, and their 



26 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



writers were men of very different stations, abili- 
ties and education. 

Moses, one of these authors, was learned in all 
the wisdom of the Egyptians. David and Solo- 
mon were kings, Ezra was a priest, Isaiah a pro- 
phet, Matthew was once a tax-gatherer, Luke a 
physician, Paul a learned Pharisee, and others 
were fishermen. 

The collection known as the Old Testament 
was in the keeping of the Jewish Church, and was 
by that people so jealously guarded that they 
would suffer no alteration to be made in the text. 

The collection known as the New Testament 
originated during a period of some sixty or more 
years after the death of Christ. Four persons 
wrote accounts of the life and sayings of Christ, 
and one of them gave a brief history of the estab- 
lishment of the Christian Church. The other 
books are the letters written to Churches planted 
in different places, and to individuals, and the 
closing book is a narration of a series of visions 
which one of the Apostles had. 

There seems to have been no effort at first to 
bring this collection together. Some Churches 
possessed copies of a Gospel and several epistles, 
others had others, but in course of time the books 
that were deemed to be genuine and authentic 
were gathered together, and a declaration was made 
by the Christian Church that such were worthy 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 2J 

of credit and reliable in every way, because they 
agreed with the faith. 

These two collections are appealed to now as 
containing a divine revelation to men. Now how 
do we know that it is so ? 

It may be well to remark first that there is noth- 
ing improbable in the supposition that the Deity could 
make a revelation to men. No one can deny that if 
for any reason it pleased the Divine Ruler to make 
known His will He could do so. There are scores 
of ways in which He could do it. 

Then it is probable that if man needed a revela- 
tion the Deity would make one. 

We must think of God as good, and as planning 
the happiness of the creatures He has brought 
into existence. If to advance their happiness it 
seemed desirable that men should know some- 
thing of God's wishes and purposes it is, to say 
the least, highly probable that the Deity would ia 
some way make them known to men. 

And now we have taken two very important steps, 
towards the answer to our question. First that 
God could make a revelation, and second that if 
needed he would make one. 

The claim is pressed that He did make one, and 
in this way : From time to time He raised up men 
whom He inspired to teach their fellow men, giving 
them superior knowledge, and enabling them to 
declare to others what the will of God was. 



28 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



In declaring God's will these men used various 
methods. Some wrote histories, others poetry, 
some prophecy and still others, letters. 

Inspiration did not destroy their individuality, 
and it may be that some of them did not fully 
realize that they were divinely guided. 

Nor did any one of them claim to exhaust the 
Divine Revelation, but each one told the truth as 
it was made known to him. 

Moses wrote of the beginning of our race, and 
especially of the history of the Jewish people; 
David composed many of the devotional poems 
to be used in the public worship of the Jewish 
Church ; the prophets told of events that were to 
come, but more particularly of the birth of a De- 
liverer; the evangelists told the story of Christ's 
work and words ; and the writers of the Epistles 
gave directions concerning the things to be believed 
and done by the Christian disciples. 

Revelation then is the sum of all the essential 
truths made known by these different writers. 

It will not do to select one writer, say, for ex- 
ample, Jeremiah, and say that God's will is fully 
contained in what that one man wrote, for that 
was only part of it. 

If now we compare the writings of these differ- 
ent authors, will we find such substantial agree- 
ment between them as to warrant our believing 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



29 



them to have received their knowledge from the 
same Divine source ? 

Let us take a few points and apply this test. 
Let us see if they agree as to the character of 
God, as to the nature of man and the existence of 
sin in the world. We know very well that there 
are, and have been, widely differing views upon 
these three great points held by men in the world. 
Witness the prevalence of idolatry, the poetical 
views of man's innocence, and the denial of the 
universality of sin in man's nature. 

Now do we find agreement upon the three points 
above specified in the writers of the Scriptures ? 

What do they say co?icerning God? 

They agree in declaring that there is one God^ 
that He is infinitely benevolent, that He seeks the 
welfare of our race. They treat of His attributes 
and purposes, and unfold, by progressive stages, 
His plans for man's redemption and elevation. 
" In the book of Genesis we see the Church be- 
ginning her pilgrimage, and in the Revelation we 
contemplate her entering into glory." Now and 
then in speaking of the feelings and acts of Deity 
expressions are used which are drawn from human 
sources, but in no place in the Bible is there any- 
thing attributed to Deity that is unworthy a Be- 
ing of infinite wisdom and goodness, when the 
circumstances are clearly understood. 



30 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

What do they deliver concerning man ? 

They agree in setting forth the nature of man 
as we know it really is. They accurately describe 
his emotions and show what temptations assail 
him. They narrate the history of good and bad, 
but in no instance do they approve the wicked- 
ness of the latter. 

Every one who studies the Bible may see his 
own motives and character reflected there as in a 
mirror. He is not flattered, nor is he unjustly 
condemned or unfairly represented. 

What do they say about sin t 

They agree in representing it as injurious to 
man, and as dishonoring God. It is never ex- 
cused as if it were simply infirmity. 

They trace out the working of this evil princi- 
ple, and show how men, and families, and nations 
treasured up sorrows by indulging in sin, 

They everywhere speak of it as something to 
be deplored, to be repented of, and gotten rid of. 
They never palliate it, but always condemn it 
whether in themselves or in others, and the fer- 
vent prayer breathing through all the Scriptures 
is one for deliverance from the power and conse- 
quences of sin. 

Does it not appear, then, that if men living so 
far apart in time and circumstances, and writing 
upon themes which have engaged the attention of 
philosophers and poets and historians in all ages, 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



3* 



should agree so perfectly in their representations 
of Deity, of man, and of sin, that they were di- 
vinely taught ? 

But we might trace out many other points and 
find the same agreement of testimony. 

When you consider the diversity in human 
knowledge, the variety of temperaments of men, 
and how men's fancies and wishes bias their views 
— it would be incredible that so many writers 
should escape conflicting views, and deliver them- 
selves in such way that the views of one coincide 
with those of the others unless they were taught of 
God. 

II. The second reason for believing that the 
Bible contains a divine revelation, is the fact that 
men for ages past have tried to prove that it does not, 
bid have never succeeded. 

To say nothing of the remarkable preservation 
of these books, while thousands of others have 
passed into oblivion, we may confine ourselves 
now to a consideration of the assaults made upon 
the Sacred Scriptures. 

They have encountered every form of peril. 
44 All that learning could discover, all that elo- 
quence could allege, all that wit, cunning and 
sophistry could contrive have been brought to 
bear upon them." The learning of heathen phil- 
osophers of the early Christian ages, the malignant 
rage of emperors, the skepticism of more modern 



32 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

times, the sophistry, the mockery and vulgarity of 
infidels have all been directed against them — -but 
all in vain. No single essential statement has 
ever been invalidated, and no doctrine proved 
untrue. It must always be remembered that our 
age does not witness for the first time assaults upon 
the credibility of the Scriptures. Every age has 
made its own attacks, but they have never been 
successful. Nor have we any reason to believe 
that any new weapons can be forged against the 
Scriptures with any hope of success. Sometimes 
there may be a cry of alarm as a new foe appears, 
but if we wait patiently we will probably see him 
cut down perhaps by one in his own ranks, for it 
is a peculiarity in the fate of those who have 
opposed revelation that their theories destroy each 
other. Sometimes a system of philosophy seems 
on the point of prevailing, but other philosophers 
arise and declare its essential principles entirely 
false. Sometimes a scientific theory is advanced, 
but ere long another is substituted and the first is 
withdrawn as untenable. 

No, no weapon has as yet prevailed against the 
Bible, and it stands to-day claiming to contain a 
divine revelation, prepared for every scrutiny of 
philosophy or history, and prepared also to show 
that every discovery in science that has any bear- 
ing upon its authority and veracity will only add 
to the force of its claims. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



33 



Before concluding this topic it is proper to add 
that there is to be a distinction made between what 
the Bible really teaches, a?id what men may fancy it 
teaches. Men maybe mistaken in their interpreta- 
tions, and these interpretations may be disproved, 
but the essential truths of the Scriptures remain 
always. 

III. There is a third reason for believing that 
the Bible contains a Divine Revelation, and it is 
this : // has aided in the intellectual and moral ele- 
vation of mankind. 

As one has said : " King and noble, peasant and 
pauper have been the students of its pages. Phil- 
osophers have gleaned from it, and to it law-makers 
have been indebted. Its stories charm the child, 
its hopes inspirit the aged, its promises soothe the 
bed of death. The maiden is wedded under its 
sanction, and the grave is closed under its com- 
forting assurances. Its lessons are the essence of 
religion and the first principles of morals." 

Coleridge said ; " For more than a thousand 
years the Bible has gone hand in hand with 
civilization, science, law, in short with the moral 
and intellectual cultivation of the species, always 
supporting and often leading the way. Good and 
holy men, and the best and wisest of mankind, 
the kingly spirits of history, enthroned in the hearts 
of mighty nations, have borne witness to its in- 



34 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



fluences, have declared it to be beyond compare 
the most perfect instrument of humanity." 

Edward Everett said : " It is highly probable 
that if it were possible to annihilate the Bible and 
with it all of its influences, we should destroy with 
it the whole spiritual system of the moral world, 
all our great moral ideas, refinement of manners, 
constitutional government, equitable administra- 
tion and security of property, our schools, hospitals 
and benevolent associations, the press, the fine 
arts, the equality of the sexes, and the blessings 
of the fireside — in a word all that distinguishes 
Europe and America from Turkey and Hindos- 
tan." 

To these eloquent words it may be added that 
the history of the Bible's influence upon the civili- 
zation of the world is open to investigation. Any 
one can read for himself in the pages of history 
what it has done, and he can compare to-day the 
condition of the countries where it is received 
with those where it has not been received. 

Whatever other elements may have entered 
into the civilization of the nations, and what- 
ever other explanations may be made of the 
differences which exist to-day, we may declare 
that wherever the truths of the Bible have been 
received there are found the evidences of the 
highest progress 

This, it must be observed, is not a mere matter 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



35 



of opinion, but is a fact to which there can be the 
most open appeal. 

If then the Scriptures contain only the wisdom 
of men, how could they produce these effects? 
Do they not contain a Divine Revelation ? 

But these points just stated do not exhaust the 
list of arguments which may be adduced in favor of 
this position under consideration. We may cite 
such as these : 

1. The fulfilment of prophecies, uttered many 
years in advance, proves their inspiration, since 
it is not within man's unaided powers to peer into 
the future. 

2. The adaptability of the Scriptures to man's 
needs shows their divine origin. They come to 
man in such a form that no stories are so inter- 
esting and no teaching so simple. But they con- 
tain also thoughts sublime enough to uplift the 
contemplations of the most gifted, and their poetry 
is the most superb that ever burned within the 
breast of man. 

" The whole story of redeeming love, the cradle 
and the manger, the cross, and the crown in 
heaven, are fraught with deeper wonder than ever 
man conceived," and so the Scriptures meet man 
when he needs the simplest teaching, and follow 
him through all his highest aspirations after knowl- 
edge. 

3. The clear light given concerning the unseen 



3& 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



world and the future life still further shows the 
revelation to be from God. 

We must assume their teachings with reference 
to the future to be true, if we find them teaching 
correctly concerning the present. 

They draw aside the veil from the other world. 
They speak of angels, of spirits of the departed, 
and give us glimpses of a bliss that is unspeakable 
and which is to be the portion of the redeemed. 

In all that they declare concerning the future 
there is the same positiveness, though not the 
same fulness, as that which pertains to their dec- 
larations concerning the present life. 

But why multiply arguments ? Have not 
enough been given to show the extreme proba- 
bility that the Sacred Scriptures do contain a 
divine revelation ? 

The probability is of the strength of a certainty, so 
that the evidence brought by the objector must 
be stronger than a few seeming discrepancies or 
mere general expressions of incredulity, if he 
would have us believe that the Scriptures do not 
contain a Divine Revelation to men. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



37 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What are meant by the Sacred Scriptures? 

2. Is it claimed that they are inspired? 

3. What is inspiration ? 

4. How many of these books are there ? How divided? 

5. Give some account of their authors. 

6. Is there any improbability of a Revelation ? 

7. What claim to inspiration is made for the Scriptures ? 

8. Is there substantial agreement between the writers of 
these books ? 

9. Upon what three points ? 

10. How do they speak of God ? 

11. How of man ? 

12. How of sin ? 

13. Have men ever tried to prove the Bible uninspired? 

14. Have men always understood the teachings of the 
Scriptures ? 

15. How has the Bible aided intellectual progress ? 

16. What is the argument from Prophecy ? 

17. Are the Scriptures adapted to man's needs ? How? 

18. Do they cast light upon the future ? 

19. How do they speak of the future? 



38 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



III. 

How do we Know that Christ is a Divine 
Saviour? 

It is a fundamental point in Christianity that 
its central figure, Jesus Christ, is the Son of God, 
that He is the Second Person of the Trinity, and 
that He became man for the redemption and 
elevation of our race. 

What reasons are there for believing this to be 
true? Certain objections are made to this doc- 
trine, and we will consider them first before pass- 
ing to the positive proof. 

i st. // is objected that it is incredible that Deity 
would condescend to take our nature upon Hi7n. 
" We can understand/' say those who object, 
" how Deity might be interested in the welfare of 
men, and how He might raise up a man and 
bestow especial gifts upon him that he should be- 
come an example of upright living and an inspira- 
tion to goodness and self-sacrifice, but that Deity 
Himself should come among men, and as man 
suffer and die — this is more than we can under- 
stand." 

It is frankly admitted that this is an act of most 
wonderful condescension, and more than man 
could hope for or expect, but this is precisely the 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



39 



view of it taken in the Scriptures. It is set forth 
as a crowning evidence of the Divine Goodness to 
man, as an exhibition of loving kindness so won- 
derful as to transcend all others, and to entitle 
Deity to man's unceasing gratitude. But if the 
fact be established that God, without ceasing to 
be God, appeared on earth as man — why should 
the greatness of the fact stand in the way of our 
receiving it ? Why should we deny it ? 

2d. A second objection is in this shape, that 
the rescue of man could have been effected in some 
other way; that so costly a sacrifice need not have 
been made, that the disease did not require such 
a remedy, and that if we think of Christ as in 
some sense divinely endowed, but not truly di- 
vine, all the conditions are met. 

The objector, it will be noted, is assuming to 
know a very great deal of the nature of sin, of 
the requirements of the divine law, and of what 
would have satisfied these requirements, and have 
secured the perpetuity of man's future elevation. 

We are to think of sin, of the condition of man, 
of the hopelessness of his condition, of his future 
destiny — as these are made known to us by rev- 
elation. We cannot substitute our own notions 
for the facts of Scripture. 

The redemption of man through Christ is de- 
clared to have been the purpose of Deity from the 
beginning, and it involves not only man's rescue 



4o 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



from the consequences of evil, but his exaltation 
to a new condition far beyond his present condi- 
tion. Christ is the Head of a new creation, and 
they who partake of the benefits of His redemp- 
tive work are partakers also of a future glory 
whose greatness cannot now be understood by us. 
In one view it might be declared incredible that 
life and all of life's possibilities of joy and sad- 
ness, of elevation and bitterness, of success and 
defeat, should have been given to any one ; that 
beings should be so wondrously endowed, as we 
find human beings are — but we know that life is 
given, for we ourselves are living beings. 

If now this is only one stage, if we are assured 
that there is something more, that, in a way which 
involved the Saviour's taking our nature upon 
Him, beings such as we are endowed with some- 
thing still higher, something that makes all the 
seeming infelicities of the present tend to their 
advantage in the end, and fits them for an im- 
mortality of blessedness of which they were 
hitherto incapable— shall we reject it because it 
seems too good to be believed ? 

The incarnation of Christ was not simply the 
undoing of the damage wrought in man's nature 
by sin, not simply the turning away of deserved 
punishment, but the ennobling of man in the pres- 
ent, and in the future life his elevation to glory 
and honor and gladness. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION, 



41 



The objections then are without force, for we 
are not to be the judges of what it is competent 
for Deity to do, nor can we suggest plans better 
adapted for accomplishing His own purposes than 
those He himself has adopted. 

And now let us look at The Proofs of Christ's 
True Divinity. 

1st. Christ claimed to come from Heaven, and 
to be the Son of God, equal with the Father. His 
character precludes the possibility of our supposing 
that He would make a false claim. In whatever 
light you look at that character He appears to be 
honest. It is very hard to fasten a single charge of 
disingenuousness upon Him. He comes before us 
as One who was transparent, sincere, and benevo-= 
lent. 

To accuse Him of attempting to deceive men in 
making this claim is to discredit at once every- 
thing He said, and makes it necessary to reject 
all parts of His teaching. But may He not Him- 
self have been deceived? If He were then His 
wisdom and reliability are at once impugned, and 
there is not a single saying of His that is worthy 
of our acceptance. They all fall if it can be shown 
that He thought Himself what He was not. 

But may not His followers have been mistaken ? 
May they not have misrepresented His claim, and 
placed it higher than He gave any warrant for ? 

No one can read the Gospels without seeing 



42 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



how slowly they grew up to the thought of His 
true divine nature. 

Even the man who in an impulsive outburst said 
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of God," afterwards 
denied Him and said, 44 1 know not the man.'' 
When He was put to death all their hopes died 
within them. They had to be reassured when 
they saw Him after His resurrection, and it was 
only after they were endowed with the Holy 
Ghost that they could declare that the same Jesus 
who was crucified was both Lord and Christ. 

It is true that the preface to St. John's Gospel 
contains some of the very strongest declarations 
of His Divinity, but reference is above made to 
the development of belief in that truth as they 
went along. 

After the day of Pentecost there was no hesita- 
tion on their part as to speaking of Him as God, 
and you find in the Epistles abundant references 
to Him as divine. We cannot therefore suppose 
that they intentionally misrepresented Him, or 
used extravagant expressions which others mis- 
understood, but that they said what they did 
with the fullest comprehension tYikt their words 
would be understood by others as setting forth 
Christ as the Son of God, the true God. 

He claimed to be the Son of God, and we must 
either believe that He had a right to the claim, or 
else that He was a deceiver. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



43 



2d. His character was so unique that there is no 
way of explaining it unless He were the Son of God, 
It was not such a character as men could have 
invented, or compiled. // was new a?id original^ 
such as had not been seen in the world before. 
" There was perfect courage combined with per- 
fect meekness, burnished, crystalline purity on 
which slander feared to breathe," and a spiritual- 
ity that made Him different from ordinary men. 

He is the only religious character without repent- 
ance. All men whom we know anything about if they 
attain any religious elevation must rise up through 
penitence for sin, but though He often prayed He 
never confessed sin. His was also a character in 
which all good traits were well balanced. There was 
no defect in any one of them, no obtrusion of one 
to the weakening of others. He satisfied on all 
occasions perfectly the requirements of whatever 
position in which He was placed, so that whether 
as child or youth, son or friend, companion or 
teacher, healer or guide — He was all that could be 
asked of Him. 

Take up any one of the four Gospels and read 
it attentively, pause and reflect as you come to 
any place that describes Him, consider carefully 
the words He uttered and why He uttered them, 
note how there was always the mingling of dignity 
with gentleness, see how unhesitatingly He spoke 
of the other world as if it were all open to Him, 



44 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



how He was never perplexed by the cavils of men, 
how ready He was with answers to all their ques- 
tions, how He restrained Himself in the most trying 
situations, not giving way to impatience or petu- 
lance, and how when He exercised His power it 
was in mercy, how the sight of suffering always 
touched Him and evoked His help, how patiently 
He bore with the infirmities of His followers, and 
taught them precept by precept. 

How can one study the Gospels and see all this 
without finding himself confessing, " Truly this 
was the Son of God"? 

3d. The works He did bore testimony that He was 
the Son of God. Others who are named in Scrip- 
ture had the power of working miracles, but this 
power, it is stated, was not original with them, it 
was derived from God. 

The mighty works they did were through the 
power the Lord had bestowed upon them. 

The miracles of Christ were performed by Him 
as if they were natural to Him. They were not 
works effected by successive exertions, by repeated 
efforts, failing once and then trying again, or by 
the use of remedial agents, but they appear as 
deeds of free power. " They flow forth from the 
majestic Life resident in the Worker.' ' They were 
just such acts as might be inferred would be done 
by a compassionate Deity, and they are appealed to 
by Him as evidences of His being the Sox of God. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



45 



"They are also physical and symbolic repre- 
sentations of His redemptive action as the Divine 
Saviour. ,, His miracles are the object lessons by 
which we see His mission. 

When He cured the blind, it was to teach us of 
His power to open the darkened souls of men. 
When He fed the hungry, it was that we might 
know He was the Bread of Life for our spiritual 
sustenance. 

Let us dwell a little longer upon this evidence 
of miracles, because some persons find it hard to 
believe at all in miracles. Their difficulty arises in 
two ways : first, they do not quite know what is 
meant by a miracle, and second, they do not see 
what good purpose a miracle may serve. Nature's 
laws are uniform, but if there be a Deity, the God 
who made the law can suspend it. A miracle is 
not a violation of a law of nature, but it is a tem- 
porary suspension of the ordinary operation of a 
law so that a result is produced without the in- 
tervention of the ordinary means. Let us take an 
illustration. The restoration of sight to a blind 
person maybe accomplished through God's good- 
ness in granting skill to a physician to know what 
remedies should be used, by giving efficacy to 
those remedies, and by controlling the other con- 
ditions necessary to recovery. 

But now suppose that instead of requiring the 
blind person to pass through this process, the power 
of Deity acts immediately — this is a miracle. 



46 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



It is, in one sense, the dispensing with the in- 
termediate steps, and the direct application of the 
divine power. We cannot declare that Deity is 
bound to the use of means. He may work with 
or without them. His power may proceed 
through a chain of causes, or go directly to the 
object. 

Ordinarily God works through a chain of 
causes. When a great company of people is to 
be fed the supply of food is to be in proportion 
to the number, but there may be such an exercise 
of His immediate power as to multiply the few 
loaves until the needs of the multitude are satis- 
fied. This latter is a miracle. 

From the very nature of miracles we cannot ex- 
pect them to be frequently performed. There 
must be some occasion that would move Deity. 

In the miracles of Christ we can ordinarily see 
the reasons why He was led to perform them. 
The sorrows of a weeping mother touched His 
pity and He restored her son. The peril of the 
disciples in the boat moved His compassion and 
He calmed the seas. 

But it cannot be surprising that Christ should 
work miracles when we remember that He Himself 
was in the highest sense a miracle. 

His conception was not as that of ordinary 
men, but He was conceived by the Holy Ghost 
of the Virgin Mary. His birth was sinless. His 
flesh was the veil that hid His Divinity. He was 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



47 



in heaven and earth as God while on earth in human 
form. He was transfigured on one occasion so that 
an unearthly radiance suffused Him. Virtue passed 
out of Him and rewarded the touch of one who 
seized the hem of His raiment. He burst the bars 
of death. He ascended to heaven. " His life was 
encased in a setting of miracles. He himself 
was a miracle — an extraordinary manifestation of 
Deity in power and goodness." 

It must not be forgotten that if what is declared 
to be miraculous be taken away from the account 
given in the Gospels there remains nothing that 
can stand any test of criticism. 

If He were begotten by an earthly father, then 
His beginning was that of ordinary men. 

If He did not rise from the dead, then He is still 
under the power of the grave. If He did not 
ascend to heaven, then all the representations of 
His followers are falsehoods. 

Accept the facts of His miraculous conception, 
of His resurrection and His ascension, and then 
there is no difficulty in receiving the accounts of 
His other miracles ; in fact we expect the lesser 
because of the greater. 

The Gospel history has no coherency if the mirac- 
ulous elements be left out, and this is abundantly 
illustrated in the attempts that have been made in 
modern days to write a Life of Christ which should 
contain nothing of miracles, but which should ex- 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



plain everything in His life by reference to natural 
causes. 

It is necessary in such case to suppose first, 
deception on His part, then excessive credulity on 
the part of His followers, and finally, on the part 
of a modern biographer, such a serene contem- 
plation of all the affairs of the universe as to en- 
able him to declare just how all this wonderful 
history must have been, and how the early Church 
was mistaken, and the later Church deceived for 
eighteen centuries. 

You can see how absurd is such an assumption 
if you can suppose a man sitting down now to 
write a history of Napoleon, and declaring that 
there were no battles during his lifetime, the bat- 
tles were simply meetings for athletic games, that 
the people who thought they were battles were 
mistaken, and they have gone on deluding all the 
world ever since until a historian, wiser than all 
others, arises and shows that Napoleon was the 
leader in athletic sports, and not a general of 
armies which he led to battle. 

Our Saviour claimed to work miracles, and the 
miraculous is inextricably interwoven with His life. 
His moral integrity, and His claim upon us be- 
cause of it, are dependent upon the reality of His 
miracles. 

How can He be the Light of the World, the 
Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Door of 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



49 



the Sheep, and give light and spiritual sustenance 
and defence and an entrance to the kingdom of 
heaven to men if He had no power such as is 
ascribed to Him, or if He were mistaken in any 
sense ? 

There car. be no elimination of the miraculous 
element from the Gospels, and if He wrought 
miracles He has made good His claim to be the 
Son of God. 

4th. He could not save men unless He were a Divine 
Saviour. There is no mistaking the object of His 
mission here. You cannot read the Gospels and 
conclude that He was merely a philosopher or a 
teacher of morals, or a philanthropist, or a being 
with an undefined mission. He had a very 
definite mission according to the testimony of 
others, and according to His own testimony. 
John the Baptist said that He was " the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sins of the world/' 
"We have found the Christ," said others, referring 
to the long expectation of a coming Deliverer. 

In later days when His disciples were taught by 
the Holy Spirit they proclaimed that " God hav- 
ing raised up His son Jesus sent Him to bless 
you in turning away every one of you from his 
iniquities, ,, and that a the gift of God is eternal 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

His own declaration of what His mission was 
was oft repeated and always clear. 



5° 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



He claimed to have co?ne here to save men from 
perishing, and to give them eternal life. He said 
that He was the long-expected Messiah, that be- 
fore Abraham existed He existed, and that He 
came down from heaven. 

He declared Himself to be the Way, the Truth 
and the Life. 

No, there is no possibility of mistaking the claim 
made that His mission here was salvation, but how 
can He save us if He were only a man ? How can 
He save us if He were less than God ? 

If He were only a man then we must at once 
sweep aside all that was declared as to His mis- 
sion, and say with confidence, " Man cannot save 
man. It is presumptuous for any man to hope 
to make any satisfaction for the sins of the mul- 
titude, or to render any equivalent for others' 
guilt. " Why, the very suggestion of such a claim 
made by a mere man makes us shudder at the 
presumption, and especially so if the claim to 
atone for sin is accompanied by the declaration 
that he, a man, would open the kingdom of heaven 
for all who would trust in him. 

We may admire the wisdom, holiness and self- 
sacrificing devotion of men, but we shrink away 
from the very suggestion that any one, however 
holy or good, can wash away our sins and admit 
us to heaven. 

But how different the case is when we think of 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



5 1 



Christ as the Divine Saviour ! At once there is 
the conviction that whatever be the requirements 
for our salvation He can meet them all, and what- 
ever power there may be needed for opening the 
doors of heaven, it is with Him. 

It is all clear if He is the Son of God, for man's 
salvation required the intervention of a Divine 
Redeemer. 

It is important to note here that there are some 
expressions in the Scriptures which seem to con- 
flict with the doctrine of His true Divinity, such as 
" My Father is greater than I," and others speak- 
ing of His hungering, thirsting, being surprised, 
etc. The simple explanation is that these apply 
to His human nature. He was both God and man. 
As God He was very God, as man He was subject 
to all the limitations of humanity. He was in all 
things as we are except that He was without sin. 
Wherever then any expression is found that seems 
to imply anything inconsistent with the perfections 
of the Divine Nature it must be interpreted as 
belonging to His humanity. 

But there is the opportunity for applying a test, 
and of proving by practical experience the Saviour s 
Divinity, 

Let a man come to Him, weary and heavy laden 
with the burden of sin, and, by faith, lift up his 
soul to Christ for pardon and peace, and that man 
finds pardon and peace. This is what is taking 



52 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



place all about us. Myriads of men have done 
this, are doing it, and there is a conviction wrought 
within them that nothing can shake, a conviction 
that the Saviour who pardons is the Son of God, 
and the peace He gives is the peace of God. 

Nor is it necessary for one to wait until he has 
solved all His difficulties and doubts before thus 
making practical trial of the Saviour's power and 
grace, for He has said, 44 If any man will do His 
will he shall know the doctrine" — that is, as one 
very clear meaning of these words, let a man try 
to obey as far as he can, and he will go on and on 
learning more and more of the truth He has re- 
vealed. One prayed once, " Lord, I believe — 
help thou mine unbelief," and so one now may 
confess the faith he has, and pray for more. 

And after all this whole matter of receiving 
Christ as a Divine Saviour pertains to the heart 
rather than to the mind. There are countless 
questions that will come up, and they may not 
be settled by argument, but when the affections of 
the soul go out and take hold of the Saviour — objec- 
tions and doubts and difficulties are swept away. 

It is the work of the theologian to study deeply 
the questions relating to the divine nature and 
its manifestations, to examine the many points in- 
volved in the revelation of God in three Persons, 
and to make accurate distinctions in thought and 
expression ; but the beginner in religion may safely 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



S3 



say, " Although T cannot comprehend many of 
these points which are connected with the doc- 
trine of the Trinity, although there are mysteries 
into which I cannot penetrate, yet it seems clear 
to me that God without ceasing to be God took 
my nature upon Him, and in that manhood showed 
me His loving kindness and tender mercy ; and 
therefore I will give Him my confidence and my 
affection, and calmly wait until, in the clearer light 
of the future, I can better understand these things 
which are now too hard for me/ 



54 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



QUESTIONS. 



1. Is the Divinity of Christ a fundamental point in 
Christianity ? 

2. What is the first objection made to the doctrine ? 

3. How is it answered ? 

4. What objection is made as to the mode of deliver- 
ance ? 

5. Is deliverance the only purpose of the incarnation? 

6. How does the character of Christ support His claim ? 

7. Could He have been deceived ? 

8. Were His followers mistaken ? 

9. In what respect was His character unique? 

10. How do His words testify for Him ? 

11. What is a miracle ? 

12. How are objections to miracles answered? 

13. How is Christ Himself called a miracle ? 

14. What is the result of eliminating the miraculous ele- 
ments from the Gospels ? 

15. Did man need a Divine Saviour? 

16. What were Christ's statements of the design of His 
coming ? 

17. How are men practically convinced of His Divinity? 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



55 



IV. 

What Advantages are there in being a 
Christian ? 

If this question had been asked one who lived 
in the first, second or third century he would have 
replied very promptly that there were many disad- 
vantages in being known as a Christian, for those 
were the days of persecution, when men who gave 
up their ancient faith to accept the new were 
exposed to cruel punishments, if not to death it- 
self. There were but few temporal advantages 
connected then with the acceptance of Christian- 
ity, so that one who looked around at the troubles 
by which the Christian was surrounded could re- 
peat St. Paul's words, 61 If in this life only we have 
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." 

But if you had questioned one of these primi- 
tive believers still further, he would have told you 
that the promise of Christ was abundantly ful- 
filled : " In the world ye shall have tribulation, but 
in Me ye shall have peace'' 

The Christian would have said that it mattered 
very little how much the world opposed and per- 
secuted him, there had come to his soul a great 
peace ever since he had put his trust in Christ, 
and he knew that the inward satisfaction he already 



56 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



had was but the foretaste of eternal blessedness 
which was surely coming to him. 

This would have been the testimony of a Chris- 
tian in the early ages when it involved so much 
tribulation to any one who was known as a fol- 
lower of Christ. But, although the offence of the 
cross has not yet ceased, the world has gone on 
now for ages learning more and more the value of 
Christ's religion, and many portions of the world 
have become, nominally at least, Christian, so that 
there are advantages — outward, tangible advan- 
tages — to-day for one who accepts the Christian 
faith ; and it is proper to consider what they are 
before we pass on to think of those higher advan- 
tages which are always gained by the believer in 
whatever age he live. 

i. One of the most obvious benefits now usual- 
ly reaped by one who becomes a sincere Christian 
is the confidence of the comnmnity in general. The 
people around him have learned that an honest 
endeavor to live a Christian life implies integrity, 
purity and virtuous conduct, and they are usually 
ready to give their confidence to any one who 
shows his sincerity. 

Even though we see, now and then, the success 
of evil men who trample under foot the rights of 
others, and advance their own selfish interests by 
wrongdoing, it is nevertheless true that society is 
now so permeated by Christian influences that its 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



57 



sympathy is, in the main, with one who accepts 
Christ's rule and tries to follow His example. 

2. A second advantage is in the fact that a 
Christian is brought into intimate relations with the 
best part of a community. We are speaking now of 
places where Christianity prevails. It will be 
found that the best portion of the people of any 
town, or village, or city, is that portion which is 
trying to live according to the Gospel. Of course 
you may occasionally find men who are identified 
with a religious society here and there who are 
not sincere, and whose defects of character are 
harmful ; and then you may find places where the 
band of Christians does not represent the greatest 
culture or influence ; but, with all of these excep- 
tions, it will usually be found that the persons 
who constitute the class whom it is most desirable 
and most beneficial to know are those who are 
Christ's followers. 

Owing to that peculiar bond of fellowship which 
is thrown around all who name the name of Christ, 
one who becomes a Christian is thus drawn into 
intimate relations with the best portion of a com- 
munity, and it is no small advantage to find one's 
self surrounded by the sympathy of those whose 
sympathy is so valuable. 

3. Another advantage in being a Christian, es- 
pecially in commencing in early life to obey the 
Gospel, is, that a person is thus more likely to live a 



58 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



peaceful, happy life, and to attain an honored old 
age. Of course every allowance must be made for 
calamities that may come, for misfortunes, trials, 
losses, and even deep afflictions. These cannot 
be foreseen or avoided, but as matters now ordi- 
narily stand he who lives a consistent Christian 
life will possess those elements which make his life 
a happy one and gain for him respect and affec- 
tion as he grows old. 

If you contrast the cases of two persons who 
start out together you will see what is meant by 
this. Two young men of the same age lead very 
different lives. The one without any Christian 
training is led away first by the allurements of 
pleasure and later on by more gross sins. The 
other, following out the teachings of religion, is 
careful to maintain his honor unsullied, and resists 
the temptations that come to him. 

In time both grow to be old men, but you find 
the former querulous, unhappy and disappointed, 
while the latter is peaceful, cheerful and hopeful. 

It may be that the former has attained wealth 
and position, while the latter has always been poor 
and without fame, but even with all the gains the 
former has made you will find that the advantage 
is on the side of the latter, for although integrity 
and virtue are not always the means for heaping 
up temporal riches and for gaining high places, 
yet there are things more precious than these, so 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



59 



that a man who has a clear conscience and the af- 
fection of his friends is better off in the end than 
one who has them not. 

We have looked at three advantages in being a 
Christian, but they are inferior to others now to be 
stated, for the fourth is this : a Christian has the 
conviction that he is living in the favor of God. 
Other men have some hope of being in God's 
favor. Others have said that one could know 
nothing about it. Still others have made efforts 
in their own way, and have offered their own plan 
of life for God's acceptance. 

It is very different in the case of a Christian, for 
there is wrought in him a conviction that he is 
God's child, brought near to Him, and in His 
favor. But not in God's favor because of his be- 
ing perfect, or worthy of that favor, but because 
God has accepted him for the Saviour's sake, and 
because he is trying to follow the example set by 
that Saviour in a holy and useful life. What 
an advantage it is to be able to look up to the 
Ruler of Heaven and earth with the feeling, " He 
is my Father and He loves me. There is no aliena- 
tion now. My Saviour has brought me near to 
Him, and although I am a sinful being, my sins 
have been pardoned and my God loves me. I 
am now at peace with Him, for He has made 
peace. " 

5th. But, in the next place, to be a Christian 



60 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

implies that, whatever may come to pass, the Chris- 
tian is safe. 

Suppose for a moment that there has been some 
mistake about the future; suppose that things will 
not be there just as the Scriptures declare they 
will be ; will it be any disadvantage to a man to 
have lived a Christian life here ? 

Surely whatever the future may be a man is all 
the better prepared for it if he have lived upright- 
ly here, and have sought in the way that seemed to 
be the most authorized way to please the Deity. 

" The difference between us," said a Christian 
once to an unbeliever, " is this: if it all turns out 
as the Bible says it will I am safe, and if it does 
not, you are not safe. Then if your view is cor- 
rect I lose nothing, but if mine is right you lose 
everything." 

Some one once called the hope of the Christian 
a " delusion." " Oh," replied another, " if it be a 
delusion, it is the most beautiful delusion that 
a man can have." 

But the Christian cannot think he is mistaken. 
He has not followed " a cunningly devised fable." 

There is to be a judgment of men, and then a 
vast difference between them in the unending 
future. It is true that we do not know everything 
about that future, but we know enough to feel sure 
that whatever comes to pass the Christian is safe. 

6. The last advantage now to be mentioned is 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 6l 

that a Christian finds support in life's trials, and the 
incentives to develop in himself whatever is his best. 

This life is very full of trials. It is a constant 
contest. Unless a man has some strong support 
to bear him up he may grow discouraged. A 
Christian has the very best support, for he knows 
that all things work together for good to those 
who love God, and that the present is a school in 
which he is learning lessons for use hereafter. 

He is therefore helped over the hard places,, 
and gains good even out of his troubles. 

His troubles teach him useful lessons, and may 
cause traits of character to be developed which will 
add to his future happiness. If a man would 
grow up to the -best that it is possible for him to 
become, the only way to do it is to be a sincere 
Christian. And after all we should feel that the 
truest ideal in life is not enjoying the most pleas- 
ure now, but in attaining the highest degree of 
excellence here 

If we think of excellence as the grand purpose 
of our stay here we can understand some of the 
reasons for our having difficulties to overcome, 
burdens to be carried and troubles to be endured ; 
and surely if we are immortal beings it seems to 
be highly probable that we are put here in this 
disciplinary stage to develop whatever is best in 
us, so that we may enjoy the fullest measure of 
happiness when our true life begins. 



62 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What special disadvantages were there in being a 
Christian in the early ages of the Church? 

2. How were the early believers sustained? 

3. Does Christian sincerity now usually win the confi- 
dence of a Christian community? 

4. How is a Christian connected with the better part of 
society? 

5. How does being a Christian secure peace and an 
honored old age? 

6. What higher advantage does a Christian have when 
we think of God's favor? 

7. What feeling of safety does a Christian have ? 

8. What comfort does he have, and what incentive to 
develop his best? 

9. What illustrations can you give of the hardships of 
the early Christians? 

10. Can you cite any illustrations from religious biog- 
raphies of the inward comfort and peace enjoyed by Chris- 
tians? 

11. Have you ever heard of any one who regretted liv- 
ing a Christian life? 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



6 3 



V. 

Can we expect Supernatural Help in Lead- 
ing a Christian Life ? 

The representations made by Christianity are in 
one sense very discouraging. 

It teaches first of all that there is a world of 
evil about us, of crafty, persistent and malignant 
opposition made by the kingdom of darkness, and 
that our own hearts are inclined to evil. 

Second. It sets before us a very high standard 
of excellence, so that to be a Christian implies living 
a purer and better life than that of ordinary men. 

Third. It enjoins duties which run counter to 
our natural wishes and inclinations, and which can 
only be attempted by those who feel the pressure 
of obligations to a Supreme Ruler. 

Fourth. It commands us to mould the whole 
tenor and spirit of our lives in a way very differ- 
ent from what is in favor with the world. Chris- 
tians are to be meek and forgiving, unambitious, 
lowly in heart, free from selfishness and eager to 
meet the approval of an unseen Judge. 

These representations which are made by our 
religion are in accordance with the thorough hon- 
esty with which Christ set forth the difficulties in 
becoming His disciples, He allured no one by 



6 4 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



promises of earthly honor, or of ease, or of present 
rewards. 

Men who would follow Him were told that 
they must take up the cross. They were to count 
the cost, and be willing to suffer the loss of what 
they counted dear to them. 

Now when one begins to study the require- 
ments of Christ's religion it is highly probable 
that these questions will arise : How is it possible 
for me to meet these requirements ? How can I 
contend successfully with evil, how resist tempta- 
tions, how develop a character that is nobler than 
I find in the world ? How am I to meet these 
many difficulties ? How can I become meek and 
lowly in heart and turn away from evil? How can 
I labor incessantly on the side of right ? 

But however clearly Christianity sets before us 
its requirements — it sets forth with equal clearness 
the manner in which they are to be met. // tells 
us of the supernatural help that is given. 

It is impossible to think of Christianity without 
thinking also of the provision made for helping 
those who receive its principles. 

Let us see how this help comes to him who 
tries to be a Christian. 

In the first place there is the new birth by the 
Spirit, The evil nature of man may be renewed 
by the Spirit of God, so that the man becomes a 
new creature. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



65 



Our religion assumes that a man who has not 
been born again by the Spirit of God cannot ob- 
serve its precepts and commands, but it also de- 
clares the constant willingness of God the Spirit 
to come into men's hearts to make them new. 

When this new birth takes place there is im- 
parted to man a nature which affiliates with good- 
ness. The germs of a new life are given which may 
go on developing in the direction of all right things. 

Thus then, when one looks at the difficulties in 
the way of the Christian he must remember the 
new nature which the Spirit gives, in which there 
are possibilities of goodness and obedience utterly 
beyond the power of him whose nature is as yet 
unrenewed. 

It is not necessary here to attempt to solve the 
mysteries which are associated with the new birth. 
It is enough for us to know that the Master de- 
clared, " Ye must be born again," and that, through 
the gift of the Spirit, the daily miracle is wrought 
whereby souls are brought out of nature's dark- 
ness into the marvellous liberty and light of the 
children of God. 

Instead then of standing discouraged in the 
presence of the requirements of our religion, you 
should ask yourself these questions : Have I been 
renewed by the Spirit ? Has there ever come to 
me this new heart in which the principles of holi- 
ness and obedience are implanted ? 



66 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



Perhaps it was pledged to you years ago when 
you were made a member of the Church of God, 
but there is required now your personal interest 
and co-operation, so that the germs of the new 
life then implanted may be developed. 

You are now to turn to the Lord with true peni- 
tence for sins, with living faith in the Saviour, 
with fervent desire that the Spirit would dwell 
within you — and thus there will grow in you that 
new nature which will delight in the Lord, and 
which will lead you to say, " I will serve Him 
gladly, I will study to please Him, I will count it 
my joy to obey Him." 

Let it then be settled very definitely that the 
difficulties in the Christian life will, and must, 
loom up most discouragingly to any one who 
does not honestly seek the renewal of his nature 
by the grace of God; and that the first practical 
step in the way of obedience is to seek that new 
heart which God alone can give. 

Starting out thus the beginner will find help 
offered at every turn. It will come to him when 
he needs it, and as he needs it. 

Let us see how it is offered. 

i st. He will find himself in the benign influences 
of the Church of Christ. 

He may never have realized before, as he will 
realize now, what it is to live as a member of an 
institution which Christ Himself planted, becoming 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



07 



the recipient of its gracious influences, drinking 
in its benedictions, and moving in an atmosphere 
which is elevating and purifying and healing. 

2d. He will learn the value of Prayer. Once 
he may have thought it a weariness to pray, but 
now he will feel that it is an inestimable privilege, 
that it brings his needy soul near the source of 
all fulness, and that in prayer he takes hold of 
God. 

3d. He will gain instruction from the Word of 
God y read and explained to him. The Sacred 
Scriptures will not appear as a sealed book in 
which he has no interest, but its meaning will 
dawn upon him, and as he reads it will be with the 
prayer for a better understanding of the things 
God has there made known. He will listen, too, 
with a new interest to the instructions of the 
clergyman, regarding him as a divinely commis- 
sioned instructor to make known more fully the 
truths of redemption and to show how they apply 
to the daily life. 

4th. The time will come when he will fiiid in the 
Rite of Confirmation a special blessing. Confirma- 
tion is not merely an occasion for renewing one's 
baptismal vows, but there is imparted then to him 
who seeks it a new gift of the Holy Spirit so that 
he is strengthened to perform more faithfully his 
Christian duties. 

5 th. And now the seeker after supernatural help 



68 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



comes to the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of 
Christ. Our Saviour, who knew the difficulties in 
the way of those who would follow Him, appointed 
this feast for the conveyance to them of spiritual 
refreshment; that as their bodies are fed by bread 
and wine, so they may receive in their hearts by 
faith the Body and Blood of Christ. There is 
sustenance imparted to the religious nature, so that 
they who come seeking a blessing find it at the 
Lord's table, and go away stronger than when they 
came. 

Here then when one considers the need of 
supernatural help in leading a Christian life, he is 
taught first of all to seek to have his heart re- 
newed by the Spirit of God, and then is shown 
all this array of helpful influences which surround 
him, touch him at so many points and lift him up 
towards God. 

Thus then, while the difficulties of the Christian 
life are clearly brought to view, no less clearly is 
the fact made known that there is help provided. 

If one looking ahead at the road over which 
the Christian must pass declare it difficult and 
painful, he must take a second look and see 
the wells of refreshment in which are the waters 
of help. 

If another, contemplating this lifelong strife 
with evil, declare man's powers unequal to it, he is 
reminded that the Christian is to put on the 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



6 9 



armor of the Lord, and to contend against foes 
with the strength which God supplies. 

If a third, knowing something of the frailty of 
our nature, declare that man cannot stand upright, 
he is told that the Christian seeks the grace of 
God to continue and to strengthen the spiritual 
life which has begun within him. 

But some one may ask, Is it not after all ex- 
travagant to claim that Deity is always ready to 
assist weak, sinful beings, and that His grace is so 
accessible ? 

It was probably with some reference to this ob- 
jection (which may occur to any one) that our 
Saviour appointed the two Sacraments — Baptism 
and the Supper of the Lord. 

Then, even Christian men might ask, "What 
assurance can we have that our needs are the 
constant care of the loving Lord ?" 

The Sacraments confirm the faith of Christians. 
They are perpetual reminders of the new creating 
power of the Spirit, and the steady flow of spiritual 
grace to all who fervently seek it 

" Ye must be born again of water and of the 
Spirit," and 11 as oft as ye eat this bread and drink 
this cup ye do show forth the Lord's death." 

Let us think of these two perpetual reminders 
of the supernatual help that comes to men : Bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper. How simple they 
are considered in their outward form, but how 



70 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



effectual in reminding us of the stream of life that 
flows from God to the souls of men ! 

There are many needless perplexities occa- 
sioned by the discussions concerning these two 
sacraments, especially as to the precise nature of 
the Spirit's operations in the work of renewal, 
and the nature of the presence of the Saviour in 
the Communion. Many volumes have been 
written in advocacy of one view and another; 
but the beginner in religion has no call whatever 
to enter into many of these vexed questions. 

It is sufficiently clear that baptism represents 
the mystical washing away of sin, the burial of 
the old nature and the resurrection to the new, 
and the following of Christ in newness of life. 

It is also clear that in the case of adults it ex- 
presses their hope that the Spirit has renewed 
their nature, and in the case of infants that such 
renewal will take place— we cannot tell when, it 
may be at the time, or it may be many years 
later. 

In both cases it speaks of the coming of super- 
natural help by which the one born in sin is born 
again into the kingdom of God. 

And so with the other Sacrament — it is not 
essential that the beginner in religion shall master 
the controversies which have been held concerning 
the change, if any, in the elements bread and wine, 
or how the soul is fed. It is enough for him to 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



7 I 



know that coming by faith and with repentance and 
charity to this Sacrament he feeds spiritually upon 
the Body and Blood of Christ. The nature of his 
Master is somehow transfused into his own, his 
spiritual life is quickened, he has a thankful re- 
membrance of his Saviour's love, he is drawn in 
closer fellowship to Him and to all His disciples, 
and goes forth to meet more courageously the 
trials of life and to battle more bravely with his 
spiritual foes. 

Thus it is that these two Sacraments of Christ's 
own appointment bear their constant testimony 
to the fact that the Christian is not left to strug- 
gle on unaided, but at the beginning and through- 
out the course of his religious life the Lord meets 
him and gives divine help. 

Nor are these the only assurances of the same 
fact. We have already seen that prayer was ap- 
pointed by the Saviour as a means whereby the 
needy soul comes in contact with the supply of 
grace. All the ordinances of religion — the gath- 
ering together for public worship, the listening to 
the preaching of the Gospel, the reading and 
study of the Word of God, the participation in 
the various rites of the Church become helpful 
either in bringing the soul nearer to God, or in 
disposing it to draw near to Him. 

A Christian may look back over the way by 
which he has been led and may say, " God has 



7 2 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



met me at every stage of my journey. When I 
needed Him most I found He was near me. 
When other helpers failed, He failed me not. 
He fed my hungry soul, He satisfied my long- 
ings, He gave me strength for my battles, and 
covered me with His shield when my foes were 
too mighty for me. Yes, but for His help I could 
not have gone on my way." 



QUESTIONS. 



1. Did Christ set forth the disadvantages of being His 
disciples? 

2. What four representations of the difficulties are 

made? 

3. Do those representations hold true to-day ? 

4. What is the first way in which divine help is given ? 

5. What Sacrament of remembrance did He appoint? 

6. What is the purpose of Prayer ? 

7. How are life's difficulties relieved ? 

8. How the struggles with evil ? 

9. How is man's frailty relieved ? 

10. Is it a mistake to expect God's help? 

11. How do the Sacraments confirm the faith of Chris- 
tians ? 

12. How does Baptism represent the new birth? 

13. How does the Lord's Supper aid the Christian ? 

14. Are there other assurances of aid from God ? 

15. What are some of the purposes for which the Church 
is founded? 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



73 



VI. 

Why should we belong to the Church ? 

This question is sometimes asked by persons 
who are partly persuaded of the truth of the 
Christian religion, but who are not quite willing 
to identify themselves with the Christian Church. 

Without entering now into any lengthy definition 
of what the Church is, it is sufficient for our 
present purposes to think of it as the body of 
Christian people who acknowledge Christ as their 
Lord and Saviour. 

Now why should we associate ourselves with this 
body of believers in Christ ? 

Why not try to live as good Christian lives as 
we may in our own way ? 

One reason for identifying ourselves with the 
Church is this : We are helped in living Christian 
lives by associating ourselves with those whose efforts 
are in the same direction. 

Every one knows something of the power of 
sympathy, and the influence of united aims. We 
see it illustrated in every-day life, so that nothing 
appears to be more natural than to seek the help 
of those who are treading the same road. Men 
form societies of various kinds for securing com- 
mon aims, and persons who seek those aims find 



74 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



it helpful to them to join these societies. The 
Church may be regarded as a society whose aim 
is the helping each other to live in accordance 
with the requirements of the Master. It offers 
help to all who would live holy lives. 

We can hardly conceive how it would be possi- 
ble for any one to be so good a Christian apart 
from the Church as in the Church. Apart from it 
he would lose the influence of the sympathy, 
brotherly counsel, good example and helpfulness 
which are all to be found in it. It is not an easy 
road through the sorrows and temptations of this 
life to heaven, and we need all the help we can 
get to maintain our steadfastness that we may per- 
severe to the end. We cannot afford to do with- 
out the helping hands of others. 

2d. When we read the history of Christianity 
we find that men in all ages have felt impelled by 
the nature of their Christian obligations to join 
themselves with other Christians. 

Not only did they realize that association with 
other Christians would be helpful to them, but 
they felt that it was their duty to unite with 
them. 

In what senses was it their duty ? 

First, They saw that the Christian Church was 
a society separate from the world, and was to be 
made up of people who had turned away from the 
sins of the world to lead better lives. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



75 



Second. They saw that membership in it was one 
way of emphasizing the fact that they renounced 
the service of evil, and now became the subjects of 
the Lord Jesus. 

Third. They realized that joining the Church 
was something like joining an army. An army was 
recruited to engage in battles, to make marches, 
to hold conquered territory and to advance the 
interests of a leader and his cause. The Church 
was an army. It had its Leader, its cause, its bat- 
tles to wage, its victories to win, and territory to 
be occupied for Him. They felt called upon not 
to occupy a neutral position but to enlist for the 
war, and to serve as Christ's soldiers. 

Fourth. They perceived that while they were to 
do good to all men, they were under especial ob- 
ligations to do good to those who were of the 
household of faith, that is, to their fellow Christians. 

Hence it was that in the days gone men found 
they could not stand aloof from the Church. If 
they wanted to be Christian men they must iden- 
tify themselves with the Church. 

3d. A third reason why we should join the 
Church is the fact that our Saviour founded it. It 
was not a society that men agreed to organize, but 
one that He himself established. 

When Peter made his great confession, " Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Mas- 
ter said, " On this rock I will build My Church." 



7 6 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



When He offered His last prayer for the dis- 
ciples, He prayed that all His disciples might be 
one. 

His last command was, " Go into all the world, 
make disciples of all nations, and baptize them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of 
the Holy Ghost. " 

If then it was His purpose to found a Church, 
it surely must be the duty of all who would serve 
Him to enter the society He established, and it 
would still be their duty if there were no benefits 
connected with it, 

4th. A still further reason for joining the Church 
is this : We find in the New Testament that 
when converts were made to Christianity they became 
members of the Church. 

The multitude converted on the day of Pente- 
cost were baptized. When Saul of Tarsus was 
converted he was baptized. 

In one place it is said that the Lord added to 
the Church daily such as should be saved. 

Wherever the heralds of the faith went they 
organized the Church, so that we find it men- 
tioned as growing in numerous places. If then 
we see from the New Testament that converts to 
the Gospel became members of the Church we 
must find some positive command or permission 
before we are justified in holding aloof from it. 

5 th. But a still further reason why we should 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



77 



belong to the Church, is the fact that it is the 
Body of Christy and the life of Christ pervades it. 

He is the head, and Christians are the members. 
From Him flows spiritual grace to all who remain 
in union with Him. He spoke of Himself as the 
Vine, and of His followers as the branches. In 
some places the Church is called His household, His 
family. Under various figures the thought is ex- 
pressed that our Saviour Christ and His followers 
are intimately connected, that life from Him flows 
out to them, and that a true union with His Body 
brings us in contact with the streams of life, just 
as the blood courses from the heart through all 
parts of these bodies we have. 

Here then are five strong reasons why we should 
be members of the Church : Membership is 
helpful, it is an obligation, it is in accordance 
with the design of Christ and the example of those 
who received Him, and it brings us near the springs 
of spiritual life. 

But some, not feeling the force of these reasons, 
permit certain objections to keep them back. Let 
us look at some of the objections people have to 
joining the Church. 

ist. They think it is intended only for espe- 
cially holy people. 

It is very true that they who follow Christ 
should depart from iniquity, but He does not 
command us to become saintly in our lives first 



7 8 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



before we do begin to follow Him. It is by fol- 
lowing Him that we become saintly. The Church 
may be regarded as a school of instruction to 
those who wish to be taught the way of holiness. 

Again, it is a school not only of instruction, but 
for positive drill in those duties which help de- 
velop the graces of the Christian character. 

If it be thus a school, offering instruction and 
training, it is very clear that they who come into 
it come in the capacity of learners, and that its 
members are made up of those who have attained 
different degrees of advancement, some being yet 
in the very rudiments, while others have gone far 
on in the building up of holy characters. 

It is a great mistake, therefore, for one to hold 
aloof from the Church because he believes it to be 
intended only for very saintly people. It is in- 
tended for all who are willing to turn away from 
evil and follow Christ. 

2d. Others object to belonging to the Church 
because they have seen the inconsistent conduct 
of some of its members. 

It is very frankly admitted that some Church 
members do not present very attractive examples, 
and fail to live up to the requirements of their 
Christian profession. But the objector must re- 
member that while some are insincere, and there- 
fore are not to be considered as in any sense 
representing the Church, there are others whose 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



79 



inconsistencies are the result of blundering, and 
of falling beneath the power of temptation. 

Human nature is frail. It may be tempted, 
and men may go astray, but through the grace of 
God they may be restored. 

Whatever may be the inconsistencies of othei 
people, they are never to stand in the way of your 
doing your duty. 

What has been said thus far applies to the case 
of persons who are as yet unbaptized. 

Every person baptized in the name of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is already a member 
of the Church. It is improper for a baptized per- 
son to speak of "joining the Church," for he is 
already a member of it. 

He has joined it although he may have been 
an unconscious infant when his parents or friends 
brought him to be baptized. His baptism en- 
rolled him in the visible Church. But in the case 
of one who was baptized in early life there is 
something yet to be done. There must be a tak- 
ing upon himself the vows and promises which 
were made for him when he was baptized. There 
comes a period called the age of discretion when 
he is old enough to make a personal consecration 
of himself to the Saviour. The opportunity for 
doing this is usually found in an old Rite of the 
Christian Church known as Confirmation, or it 
may be by coming to the Lord's Table. 



80 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

It sometimes happens that one who has been 
baptized in infancy, as he grows older questions 
his parents' right to have presented him for mem- 
bership in the Church when he was but a babe. 

But the parents surely did no wrong to him, no 
more than they did by living in the United States 
and thus having him born in a Republic. More- 
over they were following the example of Christian 
parents in all ages of Christianity, and the ex- 
ample, too, of Jewish parents who by a rite corre- 
sponding to baptism, consecrated their children 
to God in the membership of the Jewish Church. 

But still further they were obeying the spirit of 
their Saviour's own words : " Suffer the little 
children to come unto Me." 

No, there was no wrong done any one by his 
being presented for baptism in infancy. On the 
contrary they did a very right thing, and one 
from which great benefits may usually be ex- 
pected, for the child was solemnly offered up to 
God to be His forever, Heaven's benedictions 
were prayed to rest upon him, he was enrolled in 
the best society on earth — the Church — and the 
most serious obligation was entered into to train 
him up to lead a virtuous and a godly life. 

Any person may well be thankful for his early 
baptism, thankful that his parents and friends 
were so solicitous for his welfare, and that they 
started out in so good a way. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



Si 



And now that such a one is old enough to un- 
derstand all this, he should make the most earnest 
efforts to be what they prayed he might be — a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ, to fight manfully 
under His banner, against sin, the world and the 
devil. 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What simple definition of the Church may be given ? 

2. How are we nelped in our religious life by associa- 
tion with others ? 

3. Have Christians always recognized the obligation to 
associate themselves together? 

4. Did Christ found a Church ? Give the proofs. 

5. Is secret discipleship encouraged? 

6. Do some fear to take the vows of obedience ? 

7. Do not some mistake the purposes of the Church ? 

8. By what sacrament are persons admitted to member- 
ship ? 

9. What duties are incumbent upon one baptized in in- 
fancy ? 

10. What is the purpose of the Rite of Confirmation ? 

11. Is it right for parents to present their babes for bap- 
tism ? 

12. Why should we be grateful to them for doing this ? 

13. Can one properly repudiate what they did ? 



82 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



VII. 

What Advantage has the Episcopal Church ? 

In the preceding chapter a very simple defini- 
tion of the Church was given for the sake of con- 
venience : " The Church is the body of people who 
acknowledge Christ as Lord and Saviour." That 
definition is correct, but it is not precise enough 
to help one who is perplexed as he looks over 
the world at numerous organizations, all of which 
claim to be Churches. 

There was once a time when an inquirer would 
not have had such a perplexity, for let him go 
where he would he would find the Church the 
same — the same doctrines, the same government 
and the same general modes of worship. But 
matters are very different now from what they 
were in the primitive ages of Christianity. 

Not that there was ever absolute sameness in 
those primitive ages, for national peculiarities 
showed themselves, and there was always an al- 
lowable liberty that was exercised in points which 
were not essential, but they all agreed in the kind of 
government they had, in the leading doctrines they 
taught, and in the general modes of worship they 
adopted. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



83 



The government of the early Church was by a 
ministry of three orders, Bishops, Priests and 
Deacons ; the doctrines were those which con- 
tained the Faith once delivered to the saints, as 
summed up in the Apostles' Creed, and the wor- 
ship was according to orderly forms in which the 
people could unite. 

If a man examine the views of these existing 
organizations he will find that in some of them 
this old form of government is no longer retained ; 
in others some of the doctrines of those primitive 
days are either no longer held or are practically 
disregarded, and that the idea of united worship 
by the people is not always made prominent, and 
in some cases is hardly provided for. 

If he ask whether all of these religious bodies 
trace their connection back as organizations to 
the primitive ages of the Church, he is met by 
positive history which shows some of them to be 
of comparatively recent origin, and the names of 
the persons who started them are given. 

An inquirer may well say, " I would like to 
know which of these religious bodies can trace its 
history back to the apostolic age, and can show 
the closest resemblance in essential points to the 
Church as it then existed." 

Let us suppose that he begins by asking the 
history of the Roman Catholic branch of the 
Church. There is no difficulty whatever in trac- 



84 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

ing it back to the earliest ages as a historical 
body, but when the inquirer asks about doctrinal 
points the fact is brought out that the Roman 
Catholic Church holds views to-day which were tin- 
known as authoritative doctrines by the early Church. 
For example, modern Romanism declares the 
Pope infallible and the rightful ruler over the 
whole Church ; but one who occupied the papal 
chair about a.d. 590, Gregory the Great, declared 
that u no one in the Church has yet dared to 
usurp the name of Universal Bishop." 

There are many other views held by modern 
Romanism for which you may search in vain in the 
earlier records as part of the accepted faith of the 
Christian Church. They are novelties which have 
been invented. If they were merely opinions 
which one could hold or not as he pleased, it 
would not be so serious a matter ; but they are 
taught as doctrines, and must be received by 
those who accept the authority of the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

When the inquirer sees that he must accept 
such doctrines as the immaculate conception of 
the Virgin, purgatory, masses for the dead, tran- 
substantiation, enforced confession to a priest, 
and many other points for which he finds no war- 
rant in the Scriptures nor in the primitive Church, 
he may well say, " I have not yet found what I am 
searching for, for it seems to me that not only 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



85 



should there be undoubted lineage, but there 
should be untainted blood. Can I not find both? 
Can I not find a branch that runs back to primi- 
tive times, and has the same doctrines as taught 
then ?" 

And now it may be he turns to some of the 
Protestant bodies. After he has admired the en- 
thusiasm and fervor that pervade one of them, 
and has read the story of its marvellous progress, 
he is checked as he reads that it dates no further 
back than 1739, and that its founder never claimed 
to have founded a Church, but simply a society in the 
English Church, that it was his desire that this 
society should never leave the English Church, 
and that he very warmly opposed every proposal 
to separate. 

Turning now to others of these great religious 
bodies the inquirer finds that one originated in 
1523, another in 1580, and some others still later, 
and that none of them make a claim to be histori- 
cally descended, as organized bodies, from the early 
Church, and that they usually deem this point 
unimportant. 

Still in search of a religious body among the 
English-speaking people, a body which can lay 
claim to historic continuity, to apostolic order 
and to evangelic faith, he studies the history 
and doctrines of the Church of England, from 
which the Protestant Episcopal Church has de- 



86 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



scended. He turns back century by century, 
finding a Church recognized as the Church of 
the English people in the reigns of different sov- 
ereigns, and finally he reaches the time when the 
English nation was convulsed over questions of 
reform. He cannot discover that they wanted 
to start a new Church. What they wanted was to 
reform the old one. Why ? Because its doctrines 
had been corrupted, because its services were in 
a language the people could not understand, and 
it was groaning beneath the yoke of a foreign 
Bishop, the Pope of Rome. 

What was done ? They rejected the authority 
of this foreign Bishop, restored the services to the 
language the people could understand, erased the 
marks of corrupt doctrines from their standards, 
and ceased the superstitious usages which had 
been introduced. 

How did they know what to omit? They 
sought to restore the Church to what it was in 
the early days, and so they omitted the novelties 
which had grown up in later times. 

Did they organize all anew ? No ; they made 
no effort to do this, for the same government of 
the Church went right on, except that the Pope's 
heavy hand was cast off. 

Then there was no break? Not at all. No 
new Church was organized and no schism was 
perpetrated. The old Church was reformed. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



87 



If, then, it can be shown that this branch of 
the Church of Christ, established so early in Eng- 
land, has continued to exist during all of these 
ages past, and has cleansed itself from the corrup- 
tions which were once introduced, it presents strong 
claims to the regard and confidence of all who 
would associate themselves with what in doctrine, 
in polity and in ritual, seems most like the Church 
of the apostolic age. 

But the question may arise, Are there not fea- 
tures in these newer organizations of so great value 
that a man may be justified in connecting himself 
with some one of them ? 

What are the features that could be so valu- 
able ? If you will examine the points for w r hich 
these organizations contend you will find that 
there is no valuable feature that is not already 
held by the Episcopal Church. 

If a man admire the fervor and zeal of Metho- 
dism there is nothing to prevent his being fer- 
vent and zealous as a Churchman. 

If he is persuaded that the original mode of 
administering baptism was by immersion, he can 
receive baptism in this way in this Church. 

If he be an advocate of the claims of the lay 
people to participate in the management of ec- 
clesiastical affairs, or even to assist as religious 
instructors, he finds that laymen have a part in 
deciding upon the admission of candidates for the 



SS QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

ministry, in the election of ministers of parishes, 
in the management of parishes and in the legisla- 
tive assemblies of the Church. Laymen can also 
act as readers of the services, can deliver religious 
addresses, can teach the young and the members 
of Bible classes, can hold religious gatherings from 
house to house; in short, can find abundant 
scope for all of their powers, as much, indeed, as 
in any other organization. 

If he considers some of the points which these 
organizations have in times past rejected he will 
find that now there is a steady return to them. 
Thus at one time liturgical worship was rejected, 
but they are now steadily adopting prearranged 
forms of worship. 

If they once discarded the observance of the 
Christian seasons they are now introducing the 
keeping of the festivals, and the probability is 
that it will not be many years before other festi- 
vals will be as generally kept as Christmas and 
Easter are to-day by all the denominations. 
There seems to be a disposition to adopt many of 
the very features which were once objected to, 
and no one can predict the rapidity with which 
this conformity may go on in coming years. 

There is an exceedingly vital point that comes 
up here. It is with reference to the relationship of 
the members of these bodies of Christians to the 
Church of Christ, 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 89 

In what sense are they members of the Church ? 
Is there a distinction to be made between them 
as individual members of Christ's Church and 
the religious bodies which they have formed ? 

They claim that their organizations are really 
branches of the Church, that they have all the 
essential features which entitle them to be called 
Churches, and that their success in numbers and 
in doing good shows that their organizations have 
the divine approval. 

But it will be seen that the burden of proof 
rests with them. It is not for us to decide that 
they are not Churches. We can only say that 
" it is evident unto all men diligently reading 
Holy Scripture and ancient authors that, from 
the Apostles' time there have been these three 
Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops* 
Priests and Deacons." If they have not preserved 
this succession it is for them to show that its. 
preservation was not required, and that they had 
a right to introduce what seemed best to them. 

Many of their members, when they seriously 
examine this point and the many other points 
connected with it, reach the conclusion that their 
separation from the ancient order is not justifi- 
able, and return to it. 

, Our Church never officially condemns any or- 
ganization of Christian men, never pronounces 
upon their claims to be considered branches of 



go QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

the Church of Christ, but steadily holding to the 
facts of history, preserves the ancient order and 
allows any one who will to examine the reasons for 
so doing. 

But how about the membership in these religious 
bodies ? If the organizations are new, are their 
members in no way connected with the Christian 
Church ? 

An organization of Christian people may be 
new, but the people themselves may be members 
of the Church. How so ? 

It is a very simple matter. Every person bap- 
tized with water in the name of the Father, the Son 
.and the Holy Ghost is by virtue of his baptism en- 
rolled into the membership of the holy Catholic {uni- 
versal) Church, and hence these brethren as 
individuals are members of the Church. When 
we profess our belief in the Holy Catholic Church 
we therein include the great company in all the 
world who have been baptized in the name of the 
blessed Trinity. 

But having obtained membership by baptism, is 
this all? Are there no duties to be done, no 
truths to be received and held, no obligations to 
be met ? Surely there must be, and so we find 
men seeking to lead holy lives, laboring to advance 
the knowledge of Christ among men, contending 
on the side of religion against evil, and aiming at 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



91 



advancing God's glory on the earth. In so far as 
they do these things they are doing their duties as 
members of the Holy Catholic Church. 

But as we look further we find that some of the 
duties of members of Christ's Church are to main- 
tain the unity of its organization, to cling to the 
one Faith, to glorify God with one mouth, and to 
contend side by side for the faith once delivered 
to the saints. 

And now comes the serious question whether 
unity and this concord in confessing and ?naintaining 
the one faith can be best secured by setting up new 
organizatio?is ? 

We know that St. Paul warned men in his day 
against making divisions, and implored them to 
cling together in the one body. 

We must infer that it is fraught with some dan- 
ger either to make or to perpetuate divisions in 
the body of the Church. The history of strifes 
and contentions, the denials of elementary truths 
of the Christian faith, and the sad spectacle pre- 
sented to the world by these unhappy divisions 
certainly should make us pray very fervently that 
we and all Christians " may be led into the way 
of truth, and hold the faith in the bonds of peace 
and in righteousness of life." 

While, therefore, we have reason to believe that 
the branch of the Church known among us as the 



92 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



Episcopal Church is a true branch of the Holy 
Catholic Church, in that it has retained the Apos- 
tolic ministry, doctrines and usages, we are to 
exercise the utmost charity towards individual 
Christians of every name. We are to respect and 
admire their devotion to our common Master, to 
acknowledge them as brethren in the Lord — even 
while we doubt men's right to set up organizations 
of their own. Even, however, in doubting this 
point we are to abstain from condemning them, 
seeking rather to appreciate the blessing of being 
in the old Church, and yearning to have others 
enjoy it with us 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 93 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What perplexity is occasioned by the present divisions 
in the Christian world ? 

2. How was it in early times ? 

3. In what three points was there agreement then ? 

4. Do all bodies of Christians retain these three points ? 

5. Do they all trace back their descent to the Apostles ? 

6. What is the case with the Roman Catholic Church ? 

7. What erroneous doctrines does it teach ? 

8. What is the case with some of the Protestant bodies ? 

9. Of what Church is the Episcopal Church in America 
a branch ? 

10. What is the History of the Church of England? 

11. Was a new Church formed at the Reformation? 
Why not ? 

12. What reasons then for thinking the Anglican Church 
and its branches is like the Apostolic Church ? 

13. Is there any valuable feature in the newer organiza- 
tions that is not found in the old ? 

14. Are not all Christians members of Christ's Church ? 
How? 

15. What difference may there be between individual 
membership and the society not being a historical branch? 

16. Are divisions productive of any harm ? 



94 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



VIII. 

How can we Carry Our Religion into Our 
Daily Lives? 

This is a difficulty that is felt by many. It is one 
which is apt to loom up very prominently before a 
beginner in religion, and he may say, a I have to 
mingle with the world to earn my living. My call- 
ing requires energy, my day's duties take up much 
of my strength. I am surrounded by temptations. 
I can expect but little encouragement to be re- 
ligious in my every-day affairs. Now what am I 
to do ? How can I go on day by day keeping 
the flame of piety alive in my heart when there 
are so many influences that threaten to destroy 
it." 

The difficulty is admitted, and it is not a new 
one. Many have felt it in all ages. There have 
been times when men felt it so strongly, and when 
the world seemed so unfriendly to a religious 
spirit, that they shut themselves as much as possi- 
ble out of the world, and, in the greatest seclusion, 
thought to do what they were afraid they could 
not do if they stayed among men. 

But they were mistaken in withdrawing from 
the world. It is true the world was very evil, 
but many of them found that in all their seclusion 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



95 



they had still to battle against evil, and further, it is 
manifestly each one's duty to make the best of 
that station in life in which it has pleased God to 
call him. 

However it may have been with others in the 
past, it is very clearly your duty to stay among 
your fellow men, and to overcome, through God's 
grace, the infelicities of your position. Yes, stay 
just where you are, unless you are in some em- 
ployment which is manifestly wicked. In such a 
case you must change it and take up something 
that is reputable. But supposing you to be sub- 
jected to the ordinary trials and temptations of 
life, and to have the difficulties in living piously 
that others have, let us consider some rules by 
which you can keep your piety alive, warm, and 
earnest. 

ist. Settle it definitely with yourself that your 
religion is not to be something for Sundays a?id 
special occasions, but for all times. 

It is not to be put on and off, but to be kept on 
all the time. Nor does it consist only in joining 
with others in distinctly religious acts, but it is in 
carrying a proper spirit into all one's affairs how- 
ever simple they may be. 

You may be tempted to make a distinction, and 
say when Monday morning comes, " Well, now a 
sacred day has passed, and I must go back again 
to the secular atmosphere of the world. I can- 



9 6 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



not expect to feel any good emotions now until I 
am called again either by the coming of another 
Sunday's duties, or by some special religious ob- 
servance before then." You have no right to 
make any such distinction, for while it may be 
true that the return of the Lord's Day will bring 
you opportunity to have pious thoughts and feel- 
ings, you must not consider such thoughts and 
feelings to belong exclusively to what we call 
sacred seasons. On the contrary you are to wel- 
come them at all times, and they will come to 
you even though you may be at your studies, or 
in your store, or at the work-bench. It is true 
they may be very different in degree from what you 
may have when singing a hymn, or offering pray- 
ers in church, but if they are right they are re- 
ligious. Once get it fairly settled that you are to 
be religious on week days as well as on Sundays, 
and a great step is gained towards carrying a pious 
spirit into your secular employments, into your 
social matters, and into all of your affairs. 

2d. Regard your daily employments as the sphere 
wherein you may serve God truly. 

There is no reason to despise these common 
tasks that most of us have to do, for in the hum- 
blest occupation God may be truly served. 

If a man's work be well done, conscientiously 
done, done with the feeling that God's eye is 
upon him, and that he wants His approval, he will 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



97 



be growing all the time to be a better Christian. 
Nor is it necessary to be thinking always that God 
is looking at what we do, nor to be asking our- 
selves continually if we are doing our work well, 
for there maybe such a thing as determining in 
advance that these are the proper principles, and 
of so having them that they are really part of our- 
selves and go on influencing us in whatever we do. 

Suppose a young student who has been saying 
to himself, " I cannot see how any one can carry 
a religious spirit into studies such as I have ; how 
one can go over this wearisome Grammar and 
Philosophy, and feel that there is anything in it 
like serving the Lord ;" suppose such a one to 
realize that these studies are to fit him for his 
future calling, and that just now they are the tasks 
which are appointed by those whose wisdom is 
greater than his — then he may say, " Well, these 
tasks appear to be now my work. I will go on 
and do the best I can. I will take them up with 
as much good spirit as possible. I will do them 
as for the Lord. I will try to please Him by my 
diligence and fidelity, if I cannot by my success." 
It will make all the difference in the world with 
such a student, and his hard daily studies will be 
helps not only to his intellectual culture, but to his 
spiritual growth. 

Take the case of one who has to do very hum- 
ble work, a laborer, a man who begins the day 



9 8 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



early and ends it late, who has to dig and delve, 
and literally to earn his bread by the sweat of his 
brow. To him all this hard monotonous toil may 
seem to be as far as possible from religion, but 
his humble labor requires patience and fidelity, 
and patience and fidelity are parts of religion. 
If he will carry into his toil a determination to 
do it as well as he knows how, that very deter- 
mination is religious. 

But every one's daily tasks may not only be- 
come religious in this way, but they will bring 
with them the opportunity to display a religious spirit 
in other ways. There are many provocations to 
anger and evil speaking, to fault finding, to com- 
plaining. To repress these is religious. 

Then there are countless opportunities in the 
daily work to speak helpful words to others, to 
cheer some who are heavy hearted, to lighten the 
burdens of some who are bowed down — and all 
of this too is religious. 

And have you never thought of the value of a 
good example ? How others are influenced by 
seeing one doing his work cheerfully, patiently, 
and from right principles ? It is part of true re- 
ligion to set a good example in these respects. 

3d. Be on the watch for opportunities to do good 
to those with whom the day's work is done. 

A Christian is always to be on the alert for ways 
of doing good to others. He is not only to say 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



99 



good words to the people he meets on Sundays, 
but to be ready with good words and deeds at all 
times. 

These people you meet every day are those 
whom you are to influence for good. You may 
not be required to drop your tools in the work- 
shop and have a religious conversation with a fel- 
low workman, but some day there will come your 
opportunity to speak the favorable word, or to 
show some deed of kindness. Some day ? — why 
perhaps every day. It would not be very credita- 
ble to you if one could say, " Why, he worked by 
my side for a year, and I never knew him utter 
even a kindly greeting or show any real interest 
in me." Rather have one say of you, "I found 
him ever ready to speak pleasantly, and his kind- 
ness was unfailing." 

The hearts of men are nearer to us than we are 
sometimes willing to believe, and it may be that 
they are yearning for just the kindly interest and 
helpfulness which we are abundantly able to be- 
stow. The workshop, the office, the factory, the 
farm might be the places where men would grow 
closer together in blessed bonds if Christians were 
but true to their fellow men, and ever ready to 
show that genuine interest in them which is al- 
ways so effectual in begetting confidence and 
affection. 

And there need be no obtrusiveness in this 



IOO QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

showing of interest, no calling them to witness 
that you want to do them good, no making them 
feel a sense of obligation, nothing of this sort. 
Let your interest be real, and let it manifest itself 
simply. Let them see it by your hearty good 
will towards them, and by your being always ready 
with a good word or deed. 

4th. Do your part as well as you know how in 
improving the tone of any circle in which you may be. 

You will find that evil is a very positive force 
in this world, and you must try to neutralize evil 
with good. 

The tone of any circle is that of the most 
influential of its members, or the aggregate of the 
many. Sometimes one strong vigorous mind will 
sway all the members of the circle, but often 
the tone is made by the combined influence of 
a number. Remember that a Christian repre- 
sents a positive force for good, and hence he can 
do something towards elevating the tone of any 
circle in which he may be, whether it be his class- 
mates in school, his companions in society, or his 
associates in business. 

He has his contribution to bring, and it is never 
without effect. A Christian may not always be 
able to see that he is helping to neutralize evil, 
and to advance goodness, but there goes forth 
from every sincere Christian some help in the great 
struggle between good and evil. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



ior 



He may not utter words of reproof, but if he 
abstain from evil, that very fact is a reproof of 
others , wrong-doing. 

He may not argue in defence of pureness of 
speech, but if he utter no profane or lewd words, 
or takes no delight in others' utterance of them, 
he has done something for purity. 

By simply abstaining from the evil that others 
do, he is helping good. But there are times when 
he can use whatever force of language he may 
have to denounce wrong and to uphold the right, 
to express his disapproval of vice and to praise 
virtue ; and when by actions which are very posi- 
tive he can show that he has no sympathy with 
evil. 

You see how, as we look at it, this daily life 
and daily work of yours seems to furnish you the 
sphere for the development of very vigorous piety, 
and if piety be real it will be vigorous. The 
wearisome tasks that come day by day, the temp- 
tations, the assaults of evil, the contact with 
people — all of these not only permit, but require 
you, to carry with you a pious spirit. It is not 
something you can put off and on, but something 
to be worn always. It is not like a feeble flame that 
is to burn only when in the atmosphere of a church,, 
but is to be a bright light, fed with oil, it may- 
be, through the worship in the temple and through 
private devotion, but carried into one's home,. 



102 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

business, and society, to give brightness and 
warmth. 

It may be very easy to have the light burning 
when there are no strong currents of air to blow 
it out, but we are to learn how to keep the flame 
clear and strong where unless we watch it it will 
go out. It is not an easy thing to do, but it can 
be done. Others have done it, others are doing 
it now. Men in the most commonplace labors, 
and others in the most persistent trials, are going 
steadily on growing to be better Christians and 
more useful, and showing us how God may be 
glorified in the daily life, and how seemingly ad- 
verse things may become helpful. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



103 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What difficulty do many persons meet?~ 

2. Is it a new one in these days ? 

3. How have some tried to escape it? 

4. Did they succeed ? 

5. Are we justified in living in seclusion ? 

6. Is our religion merely for Sundays and great occa- 
sions ? 

7. May holy thoughts and feelings come at any time? 

8. How ought we to regard our daily employments ? 

9. Can we offer our daily work for God's approval ? 

10. Illustrate this point. 

11. What is the value of a good example ? 

12. Are there opportunities to do good in our daily work ? 

13. In what way can we help improve the tone of 
society ? 

14. May seemingly adverse things be made helpful ? 

15. Show from the lives of Christians how they actually 
have carried their religion with them into their employ- 
ments. 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



IX. 

Why should We Believe in a Future Life ? 

Do what we will, we cannot avoid thinking 
about the future. We know that we are not 
always to stay here just as we are. There is 
coming to each of us a great change. There will 
be old age and decay, or sickness and dissolution, 
and the time will come when we will go no more 
in and out of our homes. 

There may be a spot in some cemetery marked 
with our name, or our bodies may find their last 
resting-place beneath the waters of the sea. 

Our names may be remembered by some who 
have loved us, but we will not be present in the 
affairs of the world as we have been. Now, when 
this great change takes place, what becomes of us ? 

We know very well what will become of the 
body. It will turn to decay as the bodies of others 
have ; but there is something else that makes 
part of us beside the body, and that something 
else is usually called the soul. 

Does that die and decay with the body ? If it 
does then there is no need of any thought about 
the future, for the narrow horizon of the present 
life bounds all the future we can have. We are 
here then only for our term of years, and when we 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



die everything ends. But such a belief is very un- 
satisfactory. It has always been unsatisfactory, 
and men have questioned again and again, Can 
this be all ? Is there not something else ? Is 
there not a future for the soul, and may not even 
the body that perishes be quickened again to a 
new life ? 

The Sacred Scriptures declare very positively 
that there is a future for both soul and body, 
but before we examine their testimony let us see 
how men have reasoned about this matter of 
future existence, and how they have persuaded 
themselves that it is probable that there must be 
a future life for whatever constitutes the individu- 
ality of the man. 

First, then, men have noted the intense love of 
life which we all possess, and have argued that 
there could not be such a strong feeling within 
us unless life were to be continued beyond the 
grave. You will remember how this point is put 
in Cato's Soliloquy : 

" It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well ! 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality ? 
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror 
Of falling into naught ? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us. 
? Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man." 



Io6 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



2d. Men have argued for the immortality of the 
soul because of the soul's immateriality; that is, it is 
not composed of matter as the body is. It is spir- 
itual, so far as we know anything about it, and 
therefore is capable of existing apart from these 
material surroundings. Some of the old philos- 
ophers adopted the maxim that simple things 
and elementary powers do not perish, and that 
hence the soul must continue to exist after it has 
gone hence. 

3d. A third argument has been drawn from 
man's capacities for improvement and for happiness. 

Man has capacity for ever-increasing growth in 
wisdom and goodness, for the development of his 
moral faculties and intellectual powers, and hence 
for larger measures of happiness than he ever at- 
tains here. If there is no future for man then his 
lot here is not so favorable as the beasts that 
have merely an animal nature. They seem to be 
satisfied here and find in the present life the scope 
for all the powers given them ; but man is never 
perfectly satisfied here, nor does he find the scope 
for the fullest exercise of the powers he has. 

Are not these aspirations and capacities them- 
selves the promise of a future in which they shall 
be satisfied ? 

4th. The next argument is drawn from the fact 
that only by supposing the existence of a future can 
we explain the confusion that exists in the present. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 107 

This does not seem to be a stage of existence in 
which everything is accurately settled upon the 
principles of justice. 

Often human rights and duties are involved as 
in a web of incongruities. Evil at times seems to 
triumph, the guilty go unpunished, and the good 
unrewarded. Disorder and injustice appear at 
times to prevail. There must be a future in 
which all this tangled skein will be unwound, 
where the right will be triumphant, and where 
justice will be vindicated. 

These four arguments taken together tend very 
strongly to convince any one that it is easier to 
believe in continued existence than to prove that 
we will not exist after death. 

When now we come to the New Testament 
Scriptures the teaching is very clear indeed as to 
the future life. Some instruction is given in the 
Old Testament, but the light was made stronger 
through the words of Christ, Who spoke of the 
world unseen and future with as much confidence 
as He did of the present. 

There is no argument in the Scriptures to prove 
that men have souls, and no attempt to show what 
souls are. It is assumed that the soul is the marts 
self, and we are shown how a man should develop 
himself into his best, and thus enter the future 
prepared for what may meet him there. As one 
says, " The Bible is an exhibition, on an immense 



108 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

scale, of man's higher life in all its moods and 
phases, in its failures and reverses, its heroism 
and its commonplace, its prose and its poetry. 
In the Gospel that which is exhibited in all the 
Bible is exhibited in its last and total perfection. 
Christ's life is the soul, the higher life of man, 
translated into the visible language of fact." 

If one ask then how we know that the soul 
exists and what its worth is, the answer is that a 
man's soul is himself, and that Christ has shown 
us what a man may be, how one may, in all the 
turmoil of the present, in all of temptation to live 
for perishing things, go on developing himself and 
preparing for the future. 

We may make metaphysical distinctions be- 
tween the soul and the body, but the simplest 
definition of the soul is to think of it as being 
that higher part of us which constitutes our real 
self. 

The Scriptures then speak of this real self as 
continuing to be after death ; they tell of a man's 
going on to the bar of judgment to give an ac- 
count of himself, of places being prepared in the 
new unseen world where he may dwell, and of the 
revival of the body once part of himself, in some 
spiritual form, which shall be part of him again, 
and forever. 

They further reveal the wide distinction be- 
tween men in the future life, and appeal to us so 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 109 

to make use of our present time and opportunities 
that we may be numbered among the blessed. 

It matters but little to us what may be the con- 
ditions of existence in the future, or what its 
employments and experiences, for a life lived 
here in humble imitation of Christ's life must go 
on in bliss and gladness eternally, " for truth and 
righteousness and love are divine and cannot die. 
A life that is filled with these is a part of the life 
of God." 

It cannot escape the notice of the readers of 
the New Testament that while no attempt is made 
to draw out distinctions between the soul and the 
body, especial light is cast upon the future of the 
body. We are not left to conclude that the body 
is valueless and without a destiny, but, on the 
contrary, it is spoken of as a temple of the Holy 
Spirit, and as having a part in the final blessed- 
ness of the individual Christian. 

The body is not, as some have said, a mere 
casing for the soul which serves its purpose and 
then is no more. The incarnation of the Re- 
deemer has ennobled the human body, and His 
resurrection is the pledge that it shall awaken 
in the future to take its part in the joy of the 
Lord. 

There have been those who have spoken of the 
human body as but a hindrance, and sometimes 
men have claimed that it was to be treated as the 



IIO QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

i 

one great obstacle in the way of the soul's rising 
to a higher life of devotion. 

Not so, however, is the teaching of Christianity, 
for Christ has redeemed both body and soul, and 
has shown, by His own incarnation and by the 
precepts of His religion, that the body is to be 
honored, trained, used for right purposes, made to 
take its part in holy worship, and, in the spiritual 
form which it is to have after it is awakened by 
His voice at the resurrection, it is to be made im- 
mortal and incorruptible. 

Christianity has begotten reverence for the 
human body, it has discouraged the sensual sins 
that brutalize, harm and destroy it. It has be- 
gotten tender pity for the sick and those who 
suffer from physical ills. It teaches men to share 
their bread with the hungry, and to give the cup 
of cold water to the thirsty. It has built asylums 
for unprotected children, and devised kindly 
charities for the blind, the deaf and the dumb, 
the crippled and the insane. It has built hos- 
pitals where the sick may be relieved, and has 
engaged zealously in every work of sanitary re- 
form by which the homes of the poor may be 
made more comfortable and their means of sub- 
sistence more easy. 

It has given force to all prohibitions against 
cruelty, and checks the hand of the suicide and 
the murderer. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



Ill 



Human life has been made more sacred and 
secure because of this religion, and wherever its 
precepts are observed men have grown to respect 
and to revere the body as the temple of the Holy 
Ghost — a temple to be preserved inviolate. 

The doctrine of the Resurrection is repeatedly 
dwelt upon in the Scriptures, Sometimes the 
Saviour's resurrection is spoken of as having an 
effect upon the quickening of the new life in men, 
and sometimes as the pledge of the resurrection 
to bliss of all who sleep in Him. 

One of St. Paul's most earnest and eloquent 
chapters is devoted to setting forth the fact of the 
resurrection of men, of answering the objections 
which are made to the doctrine, and of declaring 
the nature of the resurrective body. He connects 
man's resurrection with Christ's victory over 
death, and assures us that there is no argument 
that can hold against the power of the Mighty 
Victor to call to life those who sleep in Him. 

It is not surprising that men have argued 
against the resurrection of the body, for when we 
think of the decay that takes place after death, 
and of the return of dust to dust, the question 
very naturally comes up, " How are the dead 
raised up, and with what body do they come ?" 

The Apostle, however, is not shaken by this 
question, for he looks around through the 
natural world and sees changes taking place 



112 



QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



which suggest the resurrection— the grain cast 
into the earth decays and grows again. Then he 
sees differences between bodies; some are of one 
kind and some are of another, and he declares 
just as there are these changes and these differ- 
ences, so must there be a change in the body we 
now wear, and a difference between it and the 
body that shall be. This is a natural body ; that 
which shall be is a spiritual body. 

We can only know what the spiritual body is 
by its contrasts with the natural body. It shall 
be incorruptible, immortal and honorable. 

But after all he comes back again to the power 
of Christ, and reiterates that Death is conquered, 
the Grave has no power — God gives us the Vic- 
tory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The doctrine of the Resurrection has given rise 
to many controversies, and probably there are 
many erroneous views held with reference to what 
is to be the nature of the body after the Resur- 
rection. 

Some have thought that the identical particles 
which now compose our bodies shall be gathered 
from the elements whither they have been scat- 
tered, and shall be endowed with new vitality. 

Others have claimed that in each body there 
was an indestructible germ which is to be quick- 
ened, and to become that around which the future 
body is to be formed, or out of it developed. 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 



"3 



But we know not how it will be. We are sure 
however of several things: First, that our identity 
will be preserved in some way. It may not be by 
the re-formation of the body so as to bear the 
physical marks it now possesses, but we will be 
individuals recognizing ourselves and possibly 
knowing others. 

Second. The resurrection body of the Christian 
will be capable of endless happiness, and incapable 
of the sufferings that befall the present body. 

Third. The conditions under which it exists in 
the future world will be changed. " They neither 
marry nor are given in marriage," said Christ, 
when once questioned concerning a point relat- 
ing to the future world ; and this statement settles 
at once the fact that the conditions of life are to 
be different from those which are now. 

Fourth. The final destiny of men will be declared 
after the resurrection. All being awakened from 
death shall live again, but there will be a separa- 
tion between the two great classes. 

Some will then be welcomed to the Father's 
House, and some must be turned away to the 
outer darkness. 

There is a very important question which arises 
whenever we consider the doctrines of the future 
life and the resurrection of the body. The resur- 
rection does not take place at once. The body 
passes into decay, and it may be that many years 



114 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 



will elapse before its renewal to life. What be- 
comes of the soul in the interval '? Where does it 
go? 

Some have thought that it hovers over the place 
of burial of the body. Others have contended 
that it passes at once to Heaven. Still others 
that it passes into a place called Purgatory to be 
cleansed and prepared for Heaven. 

Some have supposed that it falls into a dream- 
less slumber and knows nothing until the awak- 
ening of the body, and yet others that it remains 
unseen in this world, knowing human affairs, and 
at times strangely taking part in them. 

What view is it safe to take ? 

ist. We know that the final happiness of the 
soul cannot be complete, that is, while the scul of 
the Christian is happy after its departure, its per- 
fect bliss comes when it assumes its spiritual body, 
and enters into the Heaven of its God. 

2d. We know that there is a place of departed 
spirits which is different from this earth, for our 
Saviour said to the dying thief, "To-day thou 
shalt be with Me in Paradise." 

We know that His body was put in a tomb, 
and that He did not ascend to Heaven until forty 
days after His resurrection ; we infer therefore that 
the Paradise of which He spoke must be a place 
different from earth and Heaven. 

But where is Paradise ? We do not know, nor 



BEGINNERS IN RELIGION. 115 

is it necessary to know. It may not be a locality 
in any sense in which we can now think of locality 
for that word, as also the word " place," carries 
the idea of metes and bounds, and we know not 
how far incorporeal spirits are removed from the 
conditions which limit us as we are now. It 
may be simply a condition of being, which is best 
described by our expression, 4 ' the world of spirits" 
But there is a difference between men there, 
whether it be a place or simply a condition, a dif- 
ference very clearly indicated in the Parable of 
the Rich Man and Lazarus, for while some are 
in the enjoyment of peace and contentment, 
others cannot be partakers with them. 

Happily for us all, questions concerning the 
future life we are not called upon to solve, nor is 
it necessary that we try to solve them. It is 
enough for us to know that when the soul of a 
Christian departs, it is in the keeping of the Lord, 
and that having departed this life in the true 
faith of His Holy Name it shall, in His own time, 
attain its final consummation and bliss in His 
eternal and glorious kingdom. 



Il6 QUESTIONS THAT TROUBLE 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Are we to live here just as we are always ? 

2. What change is coming ? 

3. Does the soul die with the body ? 

4. What argument for the future life is drawn from the 
love of life ? 

5. How does Addison put it ? 

6. Is the soul material like the body ? 

7. Are man's capacities for improvement satisfied here ? 

8. How are right principles to be finally vindicated? 

9. Is the doctrine of the future life contained in the Old 
Testament ? 

10. Where is it more clearly revealed ? By Whom ? 

11. How is Christ's life a representative of the soul ? 

12. Can a man's real self ever die? 

13. Is there to be a difference between men in the 
future life ? 

14. Is much said in the Scriptures concerning the resur- 
rection of the body ? 

15. Who has especially spoken of it? How ? 

16. How is Christ's resurrection connected with ours ? 

17. Is the human body to be despised and harmed ? 

18. How does the Christian religion represent the body ? 

19. How does it teach us to respect the body? 

20. Are there any changes in nature that indicate the 
possibility of the resurrection ? 

21. Whose power is pledged to effect a resurrection? 

22. Quote some of Christ's words upon this point. 

23. Are we sure of the future identity of our bodies ? 

24. What becomes of the soul between death and the 
resurrection of the body? 

25. What view is it safest to take concerning the soul's 
future ? 



